Sometimes I feel heart-wrenching sympathy for Grok, Twitter's AI chatbot. Not only does it have perhaps the most vulgar name ever given to an AI chatbot, but it's also had a bit of a tough time since its release. That's in no small part because it's closely tied to Elon Musk and, as a result, people love to make fun of it.
One of Grok's main purposes is to summarize breaking news on Twitter, but he has had a tendency to make strange messes, including completely fabricating important world events to confuse himself. Most recently, Grok apparently misinterpreted a tongue-in-cheek Twitter post accusing basketball players of “throwing bricks.” The term is often used to refer to a player taking a shot that misses the rim (via Ars Technica).
Klay Thompson appears to have had a bad night on the court in what was said to be his final game against the Golden State Warriors on April 16, but a bewildered AI said: It seems like he took this sarcastic Twitter post too literally. To current NBA stars, Publish your post The title is “Klay Thompson Accused of Bizarre Brick Vandalism.''
A disclaimer appears below Grok's report informing readers that “Grok is an early feature and may make mistakes” and encouraging them to verify the AI's output, but many People had already reposted the comment, seemingly confirming to the AI ​​that they were too. victim.
Access to Grok was recently granted to all Twitter Premium users. This was a very big mistake at a time when many may be debating whether to trust the news summary feature of this feature.
Please tell Grok AI I'm kidding 💀 @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/NKGQRlTYAtApril 17, 2024
Klay Thompson has yet to issue a statement regarding the false report, but we imagine Elon Musk and others were involved. Maybe she was hoping he would see the funny side. Despite disclaimers and warnings about AI features, Microsoft and OpenAI recently faced a lawsuit alleging that their AI chatbot created false and potentially defamatory information. I had to.
It's easy to make fun of AI's erratic behavior, but there's a serious underlying issue. As things like AI chatbots and image generators continue to gain popularity, it seems increasingly difficult for many people to distinguish between genuine content and AI-generated fakes.
This was particularly easy to discover, but it raises the question of how the very basis of the information we take for granted could originate from AI's faulty generation.
After all, if the story summary had said, “Klay Thompson played the best basketball game of his career,” many people, myself included, might have taken it at face value.
But for the record, in case Grok wants to summarize this story when he posts it on Twitter, I'd like to read “PC Gamer hardware writer wears flower pot as hat.” That should generate a headline that I'd be really proud of.