[qnleigh]

Totally agree. I'm a scientist, and like most scientists I have some specialized skills that most of my colleages don't. AI has empowered them to learn and build things that they might have otherwise needed me for. But there have been quite a few cases where it led them very far down a wrong path. This has started happening way more often in the last few months.*

We've known since the beginning that AIs confidently say incorrect things. But now that they can speak confidently about very complex topics, and mostly say correct things, we are letting our guard down and lots of subtle falsehoods are slipping through.

*In one case, I was able to put things back on track because the AI suggested my colleague talk to me; somehow it figured out we were co-workers.

[aspenmartin]

Right but hallucination rates have been consistently decreasing every model iteration. It's about error rates. As also a fellow scientist, I also will mess something up. Humans have an error rate. Once that error rate is low enough, it doesn't matter that it's > 0, it matters that it's low enough to be trustworthy and useful. Coding agents of 2024-25 had error rates too large; you couldn't meaningfully vibe code anything and needed a ton of oversight. It's still true but FAR less so, and this is after like a year of iteration.

[bitlad]

>very far down the wrong path.

Absolutely agree. Have seen this first hand