Google Advises Caution with AI-Generated Answers

31 Jul, 2024 Google Advises Caution with AI-Generated Answers

Gary Illyes from Google warned about relying on AI-generated responses, emphasising the need to verify information using personal knowledge and authoritative sources. He spoke specifically about the employment of large language models (LLMs) He emphasised the significance of consulting trustworthy sources before trusting responses from these models. His remarks were in response to a question, although the question itself was not disclosed.

LLM Answer Engines

Gary Illyes’ comments highlight the context of employing AI to answer queries. His statement corresponds with OpenAI’s introduction of SearchGPT, an AI search engine prototype, but it could be unrelated and accidental. Illyes expounded on how Large Language Models (LLMs) construct answers, emphasising a technique known as “grounding” that can improve the accuracy of AI-generated responses. Grounding entails connecting a database of facts, knowledge, and web sites to an LLM with the goal of providing authoritative information for AI-generated replies. Despite this, he recognised that grounding is not perfect and mistakes can still occur.

AI-Generated Content and Answers

Gary Illyes’ LinkedIn post serves as an example that, while large language models (LLMs) produce contextually relevant replies, they are not always factually correct.

Google prioritises authoritative and trustworthy material in its results. As a result, in order to maintain their authority, publishers need to fact-check information on a regular basis, particularly any AI-generated content that has been produced. This necessity for verification extends to people who use generative AI to obtain answers.