We have have often discussed the potential of online resources, and sometimes we have discussed the potential of AI.

Has anyone tried putting questions about medieval genealogy into Chat GPT yet? I have. I had first played with other topics, and the answers were sometimes impressive, but once I tried questions about actual people it went AWOL. Funnily enough it seems
to be very good at something like "bullshitting" but not accuracy. Apparently William Marshall was born in Normandy and fought at Hastings...

Q. Who was William le Mareschal?

A. William Marshal, also known as William le Mareschal, was a prominent English knight and statesman who lived during the 12th and early 13th centuries. He was born in Normandy, France, in 1146 and spent much of his life in the service of the English
crown.

William Marshal was one of the most famous knights of his era, and he served as a trusted advisor and military commander for four successive English kings. He fought in many of the major battles of the time, including the Battle of Hastings in 1066, and
played a key role in negotiating the Magna Carta in 1215.

In addition to his military and political career, William Marshal was also a patron of the arts and a skilled tournament fighter. He founded the New Temple in London, which became the headquarters of the Knights Templar in England, and he is known to
have commissioned many works of art and literature during his lifetime.

William Marshal died in 1219 and is remembered as one of the greatest knights in English history. His life and career have been the subject of numerous books, plays, and films, and he is still celebrated today as a symbol of chivalry, honor, and loyalty.

Q. write a sonnet about Sir William Marshall

A. Of England's knights, none stood so tall and true,
As William Marshal, warrior and peer,
A shining star of chivalry in view,
Whose honor and renown will persevere.

In battles fought with valor and with skill,
He proved his worth on many a bloody field,
And served four kings with loyalty and will,
To England's cause he always chose to yield.

His wisdom and his counsel were renowned,
And sought by all who governed in his time,
His grace and kindness often did astound,
And earned him fame that's lasted since his prime.

Sir William Marshal, knight of noble heart,
A legend in his own right, set apart.

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I notice Wikipedia is talking about it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2023-02-20/Essay For example...

"Is this a real problem? I believe it is. Many of the articles sound reasonable but may have serious errors. The conversation at the administrators' noticeboard includes an analysis of a generated article on geckos. The article contains a lot of specific
plausible-sounding information (e.g., size range), much of which is wrong.

ChatGPT will even provide references if requested, but those references are synthesized from its input text and, while sounding correct, usually do not point to real articles. For example, when I asked it for references on an article ChatGPT wrote for me
on Sabethes cyaneus (a mosquito), one of the references was "Sabethes cyaneus" (Encyclopedia of Life): https://eol.org/pages/133674. That page does exist, but is for Clavaria flavopurpurea, a fungus. Another reference it provided also had a link, but the
link pointed to an article about a mink, and the reference itself was fictional."

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On Monday, February 20, 2023 at 11:23:48 AM UTC-8, lancast...@gmail.com wrote:

We have have often discussed the potential of online resources, and sometimes we have discussed the potential of AI.

Has anyone tried putting questions about medieval genealogy into Chat GPT yet? I have. I had first played with other topics, and the answers were sometimes impressive, but once I tried questions about actual people it went AWOL. Funnily enough it seems

to be very good at something like "bullshitting" but not accuracy.

Not really surprised by this assessment. Given that most humans are incapable of distilling accuracy from the swamp that is the information space, I wouldn't expect AI to do any better (though your zoological examples suggest it has a ways to go before
it improves to even human levels of incompetence).

taf

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On Monday, February 20, 2023 at 4:51:55 PM UTC-5, taf wrote:

On Monday, February 20, 2023 at 11:23:48 AM UTC-8, lancast...@gmail.com wrote:

We have have often discussed the potential of online resources, and sometimes we have discussed the potential of AI.

Has anyone tried putting questions about medieval genealogy into Chat GPT yet? I have. I had first played with other topics, and the answers were sometimes impressive, but once I tried questions about actual people it went AWOL. Funnily enough it

seems to be very good at something like "bullshitting" but not accuracy.

You have to realize that chatGPT is not designed to provide information or knowledge on any topic. It is trained as a linguistic tool only; it can throw words together in a human sounding way, but it it not trained to be a source of wisdom. It's for
chatting and conversation, that's it

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On Tuesday, February 21, 2023 at 2:18:35 AM UTC+1, joseph cook wrote:

On Monday, February 20, 2023 at 4:51:55 PM UTC-5, taf wrote:

On Monday, February 20, 2023 at 11:23:48 AM UTC-8, lancast...@gmail.com wrote:

We have have often discussed the potential of online resources, and sometimes we have discussed the potential of AI.

Has anyone tried putting questions about medieval genealogy into Chat GPT yet? I have. I had first played with other topics, and the answers were sometimes impressive, but once I tried questions about actual people it went AWOL. Funnily enough it

seems to be very good at something like "bullshitting" but not accuracy.

You have to realize that chatGPT is not designed to provide information or knowledge on any topic. It is trained as a linguistic tool only; it can throw words together in a human sounding way, but it it not trained to be a source of wisdom. It's for

chatting and conversation, that's it

I agree Joseph and indeed it is a really fascinating tool. I am sure it is going to have an impact on the way people work and it is going to take time to see exactly what the positive and negative effects will be. My reason for posting here is because of
our interest here in what taf calls the "echo chamber" effect of internet genealogy. The way that the internet and IT has made it easy to copy content in sloppy ways has already created many positive and negative effects for the practice of medieval
genealogy. What is going to get tricky now is that people and organizations will be able to rapidly produce texts which look much more convincing than hand-made junk, even to the extent of making up real looking citations. But as you say, accuracy is not
the aim of the program.

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