this post was submitted on 02 Jun 2025
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They’re not wrong, but I heard similar things when search engines first appeared. To be fair, that wasn’t wrong either.
In college (25+ years ago) we were warned that we couldn't trust Wikipedia and shouldn't use it. And, yes, it was true back then that you had to be careful with what you found on Wikipedia, but it was still an incredible resource for finding resources.
My 8 year old came home this year saying they were using AI, and I used it as an opportunity to teach her how to properly use an LLM, and how to be very suspicious of what it tells her.
She will need the skills to efficiently use an LLM, but I think it's going to be on me to teach her that because the schools aren't prepared.
Wikipedia didn't start out hallucinating. Also unlike LLMs, Wikipedia isn't being marketed as being capable of doing things it can't do.
It's not that good of a comparison.
Wikipedia started out as being extremely unreliable. So did Lycos, AltaVista, Yahoo, etc. Those things have matured over the 30+ years they’ve been around, but they didn’t start that way. The ability to research, confirm, and corroborate is an important part of life. It always has been and always will be.
The first thing you learn when using Wikipedia is to use the sources and control F
Wikipedia did start having prank edits early on (and later malicious ones).
Didn't Stephen Colbert talk his fans into keeping certain content on a specific Wikipedia article at some point?
Even then, Colbert didn't realize the admins would just lock it.
I feel like teachers are going to have to set aside time for essay writing in class instead of as homework.
I have always been opposed to the concept of “homework”, so I would support this.
True, but at some point they'll need to use a computer to write the essay. At that point, it's pretty easy to slip over to an AI prompt
Teachers can just watch the handful of children with disabilities that require a computer.
I think this works. I was in fact one of them, although honestly, at a certain point, they trusted me and weren't even watching all that hard.
I meant more that, at some point, kids do need to practice long-form writing on a computer. At that point, you have to watch everybody.
True that was a disruption but this is far far worse. And will only get worse.
Steam engines weren't "Academic dishonesty, the tool"