Don’t Believe Everything AI Tells You: A Cautionary Tale for Academia – and Everyone Else – The Mail & Guardian

Don’t believe everything AI tells you: A cautionary tale for academia – and everyone else – The Mail & Guardian

Artificial intelligence can be a powerful ally but only if we cultivate the skills and habits that affirm our commitment to truth, discernment and verification

🤔 AI fact-checking failed us. Here’s what we learned

In August 1997, Microsoft Word urged a friend to replace the phrase “we will not issue a credit note” with the polar opposite—an auto‑confabulation that could have unleashed a costly promise. Fast‑forward to 17 July 2025: our AI-powered fact‑checker read a sentence claiming Senator Dave McCormick was a mere “hopeful candidate.” It labelled that fact as correct. Two eras, two smarter‑than‑us machines, one constant flaw: when software speaks with …