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What can we do to detect AI lies?

AI lies and truths

"Isn't the AI lying?"
Have you ever had such a question lately?

As generative AI integrates into everyday life, there are more and more situations where people proudly say seemingly plausible "lies" and "".
So, how do we spot AI lies? **
In this article, we will explain the phenomenon called "hallucinations" in AI and how to deal with it.

Doesn't AI "lie"?

The first thing to know is that AI doesn't intentionally lie like humans.
The phenomenon of mistakes and falsehoods mixed in AI statements is called "halcination" and occurs for the following reasons.

  • Probabilistic prediction errors (plausible but inaccurate)
  • Biased training data (biased towards some knowledge)
  • Lack of context in the question (not understood correctly)

In other words, it is not "malice", but a "lying answer" due to "institutional limitations".

Three perspectives to see through AI's "lies"

1. Check for Sources and Basis

In response to the AI's answer, ask yourself, "Where does that information come from?"
Some AI has the ability to indicate sources, but at this time, they can also "plausibly fabricate". **

Example: Cases where non-existent papers or URLs are presented

🔍 Check point: Really search for the URL provided, look it up by the author's name of the paper

2. Make Fact-Checking a Habit

If you are curious about the information that ChatGPT or Bard is talking about, make it a habit to compare it with Google searches or Wikipedia.
In particular, the following should be noted:

  • Unique information such as history, place names, and personal names
  • Matters related to laws and systems
  • Medical and health advice

🧠 Tips: Match with Multiple Trusted Sources

3. The more "confident" the answer, the more suspicious it is

AI is designed to make it difficult to say "I don't know", so there is a tendency to assert things you don't know.
For example...

❌ > "〇〇 is absolutely right!"
✅ > "It is said to be 〇〇, but the details need to be confirmed."

Let's have the perspective that being outright = not always accurate.

Anyone Can Do It! How to use AI to reduce lies

There are also ways to do this to prevent AI from lying.

  • Be as specific as possible with your questions
  • Add the necessary conditions (time, region, constraints
  • Specify the format of the output (tables, lists, citations, etc.)

🎯 Example: "Please tell me the trend of Japan's minimum wage since 2023 in a table format.

Conclusion|How to deal with AI's "mistakes"?

While AI is a very useful tool, it's important to remember that it's not a one-size-fits-all tool.
The ability to see through lies as lies (information literacy) is an essential skill for us living in the coming era.

Have an "eye that doesn't take AI's answers at face value".
That is the "smart use" of the AI era.

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