713

Wikipedia is under assault: rogue users keep posting AI generated nonsense (www.techspot.com)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by ForgottenFlux@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

92 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Wikipedia has a new initiative called WikiProject AI Cleanup. It is a task force of volunteers currently combing through Wikipedia articles, editing or removing false information that appears to have been posted by people using generative AI.

Ilyas Lebleu, a founding member of the cleanup crew, told 404 Media that the crisis began when Wikipedia editors and users began seeing passages that were unmistakably written by a chatbot of some kind.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] sbv@sh.itjust.works 115 points 2 months ago

As for why this is happening, the cleanup crew thinks there are three primary reasons.

"[The] main reasons that motivate editors to add AI-generated content: self-promotion, deliberate hoaxing, and being misinformed into thinking that the generated content is accurate and constructive,"

That last one. Ouch.

[-] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 48 points 2 months ago

The vast majority of people think they're the good guys...

[-] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 8 points 2 months ago

Are we the baddies?

[-] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 8 points 2 months ago

Without knowing you: probably.

[-] rh4c6f@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Russian agriculture is in dire need of mechanization.

[-] TimLovesTech@badatbeing.social 34 points 2 months ago

“[The] main reasons that motivate editors to add AI-generated content: self-promotion, deliberate hoaxing, and being misinformed into thinking that the generated content is accurate and constructive,”

I think the main driver behind people misinformed about AI content comes from the fact that outside of tech people, most have no idea that AI will:

100% make up answers to things it doesn't know because either the sample size of data they have ingested was to small or was bad. And it will do this with the same robot confidence you get for any other answer.
AI that has been fed to much other AI generated content will begin to "hallucinate" and give some wild outputs, very similar to humans suffering from schizophrenia. And again these answers will be given as "fact" with the same robotic confidence.

[-] Wiz@midwest.social 3 points 2 months ago

And then #2 will be copied by other people and AIs, becoming seen as fact.

[-] Wiz@midwest.social 0 points 2 months ago

And then #2 will be copied by other people and AIs, becoming seen as fact.

[-] BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 months ago

Well, I was in doubt, so I asked the AI whether I could trust the answers and it told me not to worry about it. That must mean that I only get accurate answers, right? /s

this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2024

713 points (99.4% liked)

Technology

60016 readers

2773 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

Follow the lemmy.world rules.
Only tech related content.
Be excellent to each another!
Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
Politics threads may be removed.
No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS