The advancement of environmentally taxing large language models has compromised the reliability of one of the most visited websites in the world.
A report published by 404 Media detailed the efforts of WikiProject AI Cleanup, a group of volunteer editors that aim "to combat the increasing problem of unsourced, poorly written AI-generated content on Wikipedia."
"A few of us had noticed the prevalence of unnatural writing that showed clear signs of being AI-generated, and we managed to replicate similar 'styles' using ChatGPT," Ilyas Lebleu, a founding member of the project, told 404 Media via email.
"Discovering some common AI catchphrases allowed us to quickly spot some of the most egregious examples of generated articles, which we quickly wanted to formalize into an organized project to compile our findings and techniques."
Some instances are easy to spot, like when a page on the Chester Mental Health Center included a phrase typically used by ChatGPT: "As of my last knowledge update in January 2022 … "
Other examples in the online encyclopedia can be more difficult to identify. AI crafted a detailed 2,000-word summary of an Ottoman fortress called Amberlisihar that included seemingly legitimate sources.
"One small detail, the fortress never existed," Lebleu said, noting how "impressive" the fabricated work was. "The entire thing was an AI-generated hoax, with well-formatted citations referencing completely nonexistent works."
Fake citations of real but irrelevant sources can often go undetected for months — an issue made even more complicated if it's in a language other than English.
Contributors of WikiProject AI Cleanup also remove AI-generated images that are anatomically incorrect, intentionally misleading, or an inaccurate portrayal of the information in the article.
"While I'd like to think Wikipedians are decent at detecting and removing AI content, there is undoubtedly a lot that slips through the cracks and we're all volunteers," added Queen of Hearts, another founding member of WikiProject AI Cleanup.
Though artificial intelligence has many benefits — it's been used in everything from hedgehog population tracking to green hydrogen production — it requires vast amounts of water and electricity for its energy-intensive data centers. It also uses elements and minerals that are typically extracted unsustainably.
"There is still much we don't know about the environmental impact of AI but some of the data we do have is concerning," Chief Digital Officer of the United Nations Environment Programme Golestan Radwan said. "We need to make sure the net effect of AI on the planet is positive before we deploy the technology at scale."
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