AI Search Engine's responses are often confidently wrong

[merlyn]

You've got to love this:

Specifically, it's [902Hz] slightly higher than the standard B5 note (987.77 Hz), but still within the range of that note on a piano.

Two decimal places of wrongness there. I think that shows a lot. It doesn't know that 902 is lower than 987.77. It doesn't know anything. It doesn't know what a word is, what a number is, or what a note is.

LLMs can at times create a convincing illusion that there is something in there. Like in the example above where the output was "Yes, I was lying and I apologise for that."

But then, like in this musical example, the mask slips, cogs and springs ping out, and its eyes start rolling around in independent orbits like a cow with BSE.

[Zukan]

Does anyone know how to turn off the AI summary nonsense when searching on Google?

I dont want or need that waste of electricity giving me mindless Web scrapings. I was happy with a simple list of broadly relevant sites from which I can choose the more intelligent options.

That Gemini nonsense, on my mobile, actually joined in a conversation I was having with a friend.

[BJG145]

I’ve got a subscription to ChatGPT and find it incredible, invaluable, inspirational. Guess I’m in the minority.

PS Have to agree about the unwanted interference in Google search results; useless, annoying spam! Two very different tools.

(I’m generally a fan of ChatGPT…accepting its limitations. But any comparable AIs I’ve tried have been unmitigated shite.)

[alexis]

I’ve got a subscription to ChatGPT and find it incredible, invaluable, inspirational. Guess I’m in the minority.

PS Have to agree about the unwanted interference in Google search results; useless, annoying spam! Two very different tools.

(I’m generally a fan of ChatGPT…accepting its limitations. But any comparable AUs I’ve tried gave unmitigated shite.)

Maybe not, or maybe just among SOS forum members posting on the subject.

See my post a few up for examples of handy uses, and it's an easy Google search to see how widespread its use is.

[merlyn]

I’ve got a subscription to ChatGPT and find it incredible, invaluable, inspirational. Guess I’m in the minority.

I'm sure it has its uses. If you want you could post what you use it for. Also you could post the output that you get with "what note is 902Hz?". I imagine it could write an essay on the subject. "A5 +43 cents" may be a bit too terse for it.

[BJG145]

A frequency of 902 Hz corresponds closely to the musical note A5, but it's slightly sharp (higher in pitch) compared to the standard A5.

Here's the breakdown:

Standard A5 = 880 Hz

A♯5/B♭5 = 932.33 Hz

So 902 Hz is:

About 22 Hz above A5

About 30 Hz below A♯5

In musical terms:

902 Hz is A5 + 44 cents (approximately), meaning it's 44 cents sharp of A5.

If you're tuning or analyzing sound, this might be called A5 sharp or A5 (+44 cents).

I use it for:

- Coding
- Work (IT support, anything and everything)
- Brainstorming - graphics and creative writing
- General knowledge (background to the Iran conflict)
- Reflections on science and psychology

...for starters.

Mostly coding. Overall I probably spend hours with it every day; it's always open when I'm on the PC. (I'm currently using it to create a Python utility to convert music scores from one format to another.)

[SafeandSound Mastering]

Is it controversial to suggest ay aye is often used by people who are not good at what they are using it for ? It's a genuine question actually.

I am glad people seem to enjoy it, for now. I would use it for none of those things.

I can write a very good article myself about my topics of interest. I don't write about what I don't know about generally. I don't want to save time on anything as I enjoy the journey too much. Clock time is your life.

I can possibly see a potential division appearing, maybe, too early to say or conclude.

I personally would never use it for the last 2 items.

I am generally a details person, mostly for many aspects of life, as far as I can anyway, the job has rather pushed that on me. (I now reflect on my typo's here from time to time, sorry, sometimes I post and then have to go to the dentists or something.) Maybe this thread can be an end to that, there.... ay aye helped me, in a round about way to make me take more care of my forum typo's a little more. It is not I cannot spell it is that I type long posts and rattle them off the keyboard fairly quickly (in person, by the way.)

I am shunning ay aye for as long I can and I will continue enjoying my life that way. Working out what enjoying being a human being is.

I think I am simply someone who does not require it, for now anyway.

I do not want to give up aspects of life I enjoy, not that it can replace any significant part of that anyway, and that is about it.

I think it might be worth considering if ay aye is ultimately using us.

To add a laymans thought, is it not the case that ay aye will invent the most efficient, versatile computer code that exists (and chips to suit it), design the perfect modular, serviceable hardware system for it to run on, be able to program said language, and ay aye control mechanized systems (robotics) to replace and update this super efficient hardware system.

If that is not happening right now, I would be extremely surprised. I wonder if coding by humans will be a thing of the past quite soon ?

I don't think people know what it is doing, or what the potential consequences of using it might be for any arena of life. I believe a cautious approach is a very sensible approach.

[awjoe]

I’ve got a subscription to ChatGPT and find it incredible, invaluable, inspirational. Guess I’m in the minority.

I'm in the minority too, I guess, but I think it's because my use of it is so restricted - I use it just for Google searches. I've found that the Google AI offering often cuts to the chase and saves me a ton of time finding what I'm looking for. It occasionally misleads, but scepticism and putting it to the test sorts that out for the stuff I'm interested in. So my conclusion so far is that if you point AI at creative tasks, it's clearly inferior one way or another, but for sorting info on the web, not so much.

[BJG145]

Is it controversial to suggest ay aye is often used by people who are not good at what they are using it for?

Oh, sh1t...for me, that's pretty much everything then.

[SafeandSound Mastering]

There are of course things I am not good at or cannot do, pretty much like most people on the planet. If it gives you the chance to have a go at something yourself and act as an aid to learning as opposed to it just giving you the answer with no explanations then that is pretty cool.

Maybe I am just a one trick audio pony, with few aims left beyond my audio and music work and interests, currently anyway, could well be.

[BJG145]

If it gives you the chance to have a go at something yourself and act as an aid to learning as opposed to it just giving you the answer with no explanations then that is pretty cool.

That would be true in my case. The kind of software I'm constructing with it takes a lot of effort and coaxing. I would describe my coding skills as basic, but it would be impossible to get far with it if you had no idea what you were doing. I'm learning loads, and I've been able to put together stuff that I wouldn't even have attempted otherwise. So, it works for me.

After spending most of the day working on a data structure to represent simple tunes, I've reached a point where I can say: "Can you create a set of JSON files representing Mixolydian scales in this format in every key and present them as a downloadable zip".

...and it goes, yep, here you are. And I can load that into the hurdy-gurdy tutor GUI that I'm building with it.

(It lights up the keybox to show the fingering and stuff. It won't set the world alight but it keeps me off the streets.)

[SafeandSound Mastering]

Seems good for you although very trusting with your ideas and inspiration and method of execution.

Any guarantees it is not building a super vamped version of what you are making and then selling it for $49.99 with an instantly built shop page and online payment portal ?

And I assume you are checking every note in that scale/key afterwards so it is actually useful rather than possibly useful and not very confusing ? Most humans have a conscience and responsibility to others, otherwise trust is extremely quickly lost and that creates problems.

I do this myself but I search in images and type in for example "Phrygian mode in D notes on piano keyboard" then I cross check multiple piano/scale diagrams from different sources.

[alexis]

The new SOS for Artists includes a part of its subscription model an AI mastering plugin:

• Unlimited WAV masters + HD WAV
  Master your music with studio-quality sound using LANDR’s pioneering AI—featuring album mastering, reference tracks, unlimited previews, and streaming-optimized formats.

https://www.sosforartists.com/
.

[SafeandSound Mastering]

People are free to do as they wish as has been the case for the decade such services have existed. However, that is "mastering" in name only.

Anyone who is past beginner stage knows it. It has been around for 10 years now (of my 15 years dedicated mastering for a sole income) and has posed no threat thus far to any real proposition ME, it has probably ended a few pretender player attempts.

I estimated it has taken about 5, maybe 10pct of my mastering work over a decade. People who struggle to know what they get for their money. There are always going to be people who know no different for a wide variety of reasons.

SOS must try and diversify and has the chance to, that is completely understandable.

Actual mastering is a dedicated, bespoke, multi facetted personal service and nothing automated or end user driven can come close to what is on offer.

If you do not understand the difference in service level at this time you will likely not hear the resulting differences. As such people using such auto DSP or DIY interfaces are rarely clients that human ME's are likely to service anyway.

Human mastering engineers tend to work with seriously interested hobby musicians, people who want to actually learn something about their productions and professionals (musicians, producers, labels, and mix engineers) who clearly understand the value and reassurance the service provides.

[merlyn]

ChatGPT is much better on pitch and frequency than Google's 'AI Overview'. Not so good at rounding. OK, so it's a small error, but it cost billions of dollars and it can't round to the nearest whole number.

+44 cents made me wonder if I had messed up my rounding and I asked ChatGPT myself.

The answer to the equation is 42.748... which rounds to 43. So the output always needs to be checked, which is maybe a bit disappointing for OpenAI and the billions of dollars sunk into it.

[alexis]

ChatGPT is much better on pitch and frequency than Google's 'AI Overview'. Not so good at rounding. OK, so it's a small error, but it cost billions of dollars and it can't round to the nearest whole number.

+44 cents made me wonder if I had messed up my rounding and I asked ChatGPT myself.

The answer to the equation is 42.748... which rounds to 43. So the output always needs to be checked, which is maybe a bit disappointing for OpenAI and the billions of dollars sunk into it.

That's how I feel.

In a sense, no different from "facts" obtained more traditionally (Hmm, is that no longer the appropriate phrasing, now that "everyone is using AI all the time"?) - gotta check 'em if they're being used for something mission critical.

[BJG145]

I assume you are checking every note in that scale/key

I keep an eye on it obvs, but that’s not necessary. It’s pretty dependable.

(Merlyn figured out some very useful stuff for me that had eluded my attempts with ChatGPT, so, brainpower wins. But, personally, I need the AI boost quite often.)

[Folderol]

If you need to check the results you might as well calculate them yourself. The musical scale is an easy one.
All you need to know is that A4 is 440 Hz and the interval is the 12th root of 2. A modern calculator would breeze through that without needing a power station for the energy, and the answer for adequate precision is 1.0594631

A very long time ago I used that information and log tables to write out an approximate (only 4 figure accuracy) copy for the entire piano key range.
Hint: you only need to calculate one octave - the rest is powers of 2.

Also I know of an approximation that was used in some digital keyboards which gives a sniff over 5 figure accuracy. it's 196/185

[Guest]

The study echoes a broader industry worry: “today is the worst these products will ever be,” but right now they’re still unreliable for factual search, especially on news.

[ManFromGlass]

Happily discovered a small hidden observatory 15 minutes away from us and signed up for a viewing event. While waiting for their chance to view the moon some were zooming in and taking photos of it with their phones.
The moon had some very slight cloud cover over it but their phones took an amazing and clear photo of the “moon”.
Seems ai is built into their photo app.
So did they really get a picture of the moon the rest of us were looking at? Or a fake, enhanced, ai lie of what we were looking at?

[Drew Stephenson]

Samsung were picked up for doing exactly this recently. People were taking these amazing moon shots but if you tried it without an internet connection suddenly they weren't so good. Turns out it was 'enhancing' the photos with a set of stock photos from telescopes.

[Martin Walker]

Samsung were picked up for doing exactly this recently. People were taking these amazing moon shots but if you tried it without an internet connection suddenly they weren't so good. Turns out it was 'enhancing' the photos with a set of stock photos from telescopes.