Weekly Newsletter

Practical AI Strategies

What are AI hallucinations?

Hi everyone,

Since the release of ChatGPT, people have been caught out with large language models' tendency to make stuff up. The industry settled on the word "hallucination" to describe this phenomenon, and I'm sure you've all heard of it, and experienced it yourselves.

If you're a teacher, you've probably had students hand in hallucinated work. If you use AI yourself, you've probably noticed a few wild claims or incorrect references. Hopefully, you haven't been caught out publishing hallucinated work, but if you have, you're not alone!

High profile cases in the news from consulting firms, lawyers, educators and medical practitioners suggest that many people are falling into the trap of AI hallucinations.

This week's article looks at the exact reasons hallucinations occur, and why it's impossible to totally avoid them even if we use careful technical methods. I also explore why the term "hallucination" itself is problematic, and might be adding to people's issues with the technology.

Where does expertise "live"?

If you've been around for a while, you'll have seen quite a few articles on the blog about expertise. It's one of my favourite topics to write about, and I believe that expertise is a vital ingredient in using AI well. Having domain expertise is one of the few things that can mitigate the risk of hallucinations, and it also leads to better outcomes from increasingly powerful models.

But there's a longstanding debate on where expertise "lives". Is expertise something in the head of the expert? Does it leave when the expert exits the room? Or is it something which is conferred upon someone, and a product of society?

That's all for this week!

Cheers,

Leon

PS: If you're a vocational skills teacher, including my Australian VET colleagues, stay tuned for updates coming soon on a new course I'll be putting together at ​https://practicalaistrategies.com/​

Stay informed.​
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