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<\/div>Perplexity, an AI startup that has raised hundreds of millions of dollars<\/a> from the likes of Jeff Bezos, is struggling with the fundamentals<\/a> of the technology.<\/p> Its AI-powered search engine, developed to rival the likes of Google, still has a strong tendency to come up with fantastical lies drawn from seemingly nowhere.<\/p> The most incredible example yet might come from a Wired<\/em> investigation into the company's product. When Wired<\/em> asked it to summarize a test webpage<\/a> that only contained the sentence, \"I am a reporter with Wired<\/em>,\" it came up with a perplexing answer: a \"story about a young girl named Amelia who follows a trail of glowing mushrooms in a magical forest called Whisper Woods.\"<\/p> In fact, as Wired<\/em>'s logs showed, the search engine never even attempted to visit the page, despite Perplexity's assurances<\/a> that its chatbot \"searches the internet to give you an accessible, conversational, and verifiable answer.\"<\/p> The bizarre tale of Amelia in the magical forest perfectly illustrates a glaring discrepancy between the lofty promises Perplexity and its competitors make and what its chatbots are actually capable of in the real world.<\/p> A lot has been said about the ongoing hype surrounding AI, with investors pouring billions of dollars into the tech. But despite an astronomical amount of available funds, companies like Perplexity — nevermind much larger brethren like OpenAI<\/a>, Microsoft<\/a> and Google<\/a>— are consistently stumbling.<\/p> For quite some time now, we've watched chatbots come up with confidently-told lies<\/a>, which AI boosters optimistically call \"hallucinations\" — a convenient way to avoid the word \"bullshit,\" in the estimation of Wired <\/em>and certain AI researchers<\/a>.<\/p> Meanwhile, Silicon Valley executives are becoming increasingly open to the possibility<\/a> that the tech may never get to the point of never making crap up. Some experts concur<\/a>.<\/p> It's particularly strange in the case of Perplexity, which was once held up as an exciting new startup that could provide a new business model for publishers still reeling from a flood of AI products that are ripping off their work.<\/p> But the company's chatbot has not held up to virtually any degree of scrutiny, with the Associated Press<\/em> finding<\/a> that it invented fake quotes from real people.<\/p> Worse yet, Forbes<\/em> caught<\/a> the tool selling off its reporting with barely any attribution, culminating in general counsel MariaRosa Cartolano accusing Perplexity of \"willful infringement\" in a letter obtained by Axios<\/em><\/a>.<\/p> Should we take these companies by their word and believe that more trustworthy chatbots are around the corner — or should investors be prepared for the AI bubble to burst<\/a>?<\/p> It's a strange state of affairs. Currently, these companies seem to be in the business of selling hopes and dreams for the future — not concrete products that actually work now.<\/p> More on Perplexity:<\/strong> There's Something Deeply Wrong With Perplexity<\/a><\/p> The post Asked to Summarize a Webpage, Perplexity Instead Invented a Story About a Girl Who Follows a Trail of Glowing Mushrooms in a Magical Forest<\/a> appeared first on Futurism<\/a>.<\/p> Read more from the original source: Perplexity, an AI startup that has raised hundreds of millions of dollars from the likes of Jeff Bezos, is struggling with the fundamentals of the technology. Its AI-powered search engine, developed to rival the likes of Google, still has a strong tendency to come up with fantastical lies drawn from seemingly nowhere Continue reading
Asked to Summarize a Webpage, Perplexity Instead Invented a Story About a Girl Who Follows a Trail of Glowing Mushrooms in a Magical Forest<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"