Four major artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots are inaccurately summarising news stories, according to research carried out by the BBC.
The BBC gave OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Microsoft’s Copilot, Google’s Gemini and Perplexity AI content from the BBC website then asked them questions about the news.
It said the resulting answers contained “significant inaccuracies” and distortions.
In a blog, Deborah Turness, the CEO of BBC News and Current Affairs, said AI brought “endless opportunities” but the companies developing the tools were “playing with fire.”
“We live in troubled times, and how long will it be before an AI-distorted headline causes significant real world harm?”, she asked.
The tech companies which own the chatbots have been approached for comment.
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area.
He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit.
Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.
