If you think mainstream AI chatbots like ChatGPT's proclivity for amplifying misinformation is concerning, what about a never-ending list of copycats?
A Redditor recently shared an alarming pattern they saw on the Google Play Store to the r/Anticonsumption subreddit.
In the post, they shared a screenshot of all of the less established AI apps — many of which use ChatGPT's OpenAI and mimic ChatGPT's logo — posing as a top choice such as ChatGPT in an apparent search. There are 25 different apps, with the real ChatGPT buried in the third-to-bottom position.
The Redditor noted in their post it's "getting out of hand." While companies ripping off each other's tech and branding is nothing new, the implications with AI chatbots are considerably more dangerous than a knockoff Coach bag.
"Misinformation isn't new, but generative AI is definitely amplifying these patterns and behaviors," Sejin Paik, an AI researcher at Georgetown University, told Voice of America.
Climate misinformation is one key area where AI chatbots can have a field day spreading false narratives. In the wake of Hurricane Helene, misinformation about FEMA's response and conspiracy theories like cloud seeding ran rampant.
It's unclear whether AI played any role in the source of that misinformation, but DeSmog noted that chatbots can play a disturbing part in amplifying these sorts of ideas.
Mainstream products like ChatGPT face increasing pressure to both partner with reputable news sources like the Associated Press and improve their models. A sliver of good news is that ChatGPT did effectively discuss some climate facts in a study, as Grist reports.
There are good-faith efforts to clean up these models. However, those trying to make a quick buck are unlikely to be too worried about any of that.
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So, if consumers who subscribe to climate myths interact with lesser models, that could result in more "garbage in, garbage out," as media scholar Matt Jordan described to Voice of America.
This doesn't even get into generative AI's enormous energy requirements, which result in a ton of pollution that contributes to the warming of the planet. Fortunately, there are a host of efforts to make data centers more energy-efficient and to reduce AI calculations' energy costs.
Commenters on Reddit were similarly disillusioned with the proliferation of ChatGPT copycats.
"It's funny because these are all effectively the same app," one chimed in.
"Potentially some of them also add hardcoded [expletive] to your prompt to appear different or original, but really just water down the functionality," another responded.
"Ah, legendary capitalism breeds innovation at work," a Redditor sarcastically wrote.
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