31–40 of 123 posts
I see this happen a lot on Tiktok and Facebook where influencers post about using different plants for food or for skincare. They often either show photos that are of a different plant that is dangerous to eat or they haven’t actually tried this and promoting the consumption of a plant that can poison people. It’s the Wild West out there on social networks.
Obligatory PA Comic: https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2024/05/27/a-very-particu...
This is actually a problem with non-AI generated mushroom books as well. Apparently publishers have been copying eachothers misinformation for a long time.
It is also a problem with accurate images and descriptions. Some mushrooms are very easily mistaken for others: unless you're 100% sure you've picked this very species before in around the same place and time, you'd better leave it there or bring it to a mycologist for identification.
This was something that was bound to happen and is going to happen again unless we get more serious regulation around AI publishing. > It lists the author as having a Masters Degree in Mycology from University of East Ontario. A search later revealed there is no "University of East Ontario." This has got to be criminal negligence.
Sounds more like a scam.
Regulation like the EU’s AI Act (and even more strict) should be in effect worldwide. Corps have been running the show but naturally their focus is on monetisation rather than what their creations actually do.
This was something that was bound to happen and is going to happen again unless we get more serious regulation around AI publishing. > It lists the author as having a Masters Degree in Mycology from University of East Ontario. A search later revealed there is no "University of East Ontario." This has got to be criminal negligence.
This was something that was bound to happen and is going to happen again unless we get more serious regulation around AI publishing. > It lists the author as having a Masters Degree in Mycology from University of East Ontario. A search later revealed there is no "University of East Ontario." This has got to be criminal negligence.
Sounds more like a scam.
This was something that was bound to happen and is going to happen again unless we get more serious regulation around AI publishing. > It lists the author as having a Masters Degree in Mycology from University of East Ontario. A search later revealed there is no "University of East Ontario." This has got to be criminal negligence.
What's good for the goose is good for the gander: the AI generated not only the contents but the author as well. This has to be some kind of a new level of idiocy. I mean, use AI to make junk sci-fi stories, and generate fake authors all day. But going for a book about mushrooms deserves a special stupidity and evilness award.
No excuse, obviously. But it could explain how whoever's running the scam could have run it off this cliff - probably others, too.
It's been a couple years since I bought even paper books off Amazon. Used should theoretically be closer to OK, but eBay sellers are cheaper and much more trustworthy.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The poster doesn’t claim they ate morels. The section about morels was an example for something unrelated to the poisoning.
The fact that these people claim mushroom poisoning but don't say what kind of mushrooms they were looking for makes you... more? less? willing to buy the story? They mentioned morels, which are sort of plausible (dates excepted) since false morels aren't going to kill you. What kind of mushroom would they be hunting in late July where their poisoning wouldn't be actually-newsworthy?
I saw a comparable post the other day about an LLM proposing to mix garlic and oil in a way that would have produced a poisonous fluid, which the author recognized before trying. I found that story, and I find this one, at least plausible.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/03/18/ai-mush... ("Using AI to spot edible mushrooms could kill you")
- "Like past mushroom identification apps, the accuracy is poor, Claypool found in a new report for Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization. But AI companies and app stores are offering these apps anyway, often without clear disclosures about how often the tools are wrong."
- "Apple, Google, OpenAI and Microsoft didn’t respond to requests for comment."