this post was submitted on 17 Jun 2023
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It's generative so it will generate plausible answers with no consistency of truthfulness.
We have common(-enough) sense to be able to pick up on whether it's being sensible or not, after which we take to search engines. Search engines are now the fallback; a friend of mine and I have nearly totally replaced search engines with ChatGPT as the primary way of quickly, initially getting info now. If you stay aware of its limitations, it can be life-changing in a positive way.
Relying on common sense for critical information is a trap. You're "googling" because you don't know. The incorrect answer might be just plausible enough for you to believe it. This is why credible sources are important, to act as a sort of fallback to authority (I trust "source X" to provide correct information).
Don't worry, eventually Google's current project to replace all their own search results with their own "AI" sludge will make using them impossible to get credible information from too. :(