Deadliest AI scam I've ever heard of: plant and fungi foraging guide books.

twitter.com

6 points·notRobot··4 comments

I'm not sure why OP thought it best to withhold sharing which guide books are AI fakes. This tweet is only fear mongering, at best, without that information, intended to create a no-trust relationship with all foraging guides outside of print copies. The concern is arguably valid, but show us examples.

Linking to things like this increases their scores in search engines (not limited to Google) and so makes them easier to find and link to, further increasing their scores and bringing them further into the mainstream, increasing their apparent legitimacy.

Do you believe this doesn't/won't happen?

You've got my vote, two things are real,

* bad books can rise in search results, and

* misidentified mushrooms can and will kill:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-66495707

Of course I know that happens. Misinformation counts on it, to some degree (among other factors) or it wouldn't have any impact.

That said, I also don't support the idea of withholding information then telling people to be afraid of it. Show people what to watch for so that they can be vigilant with other information they come across. This tweet could have explained discrepencies, reviewed trusted sources for said info, but instead chose to amount merely to a "Be Afraid of X" which is arguably as bad as the misinfornation itself, in some cases.

Teach, don't just tell.

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