Hermansson logged in to Google and began looking up results for the IQs of different nations. When he typed in “Pakistan IQ,” rather than getting a typical list of links, Hermansson was presented with Google’s AI-powered Overviews tool, which, confusingly to him, was on by default. It gave him a definitive answer of 80.
When he typed in “Sierra Leone IQ,” Google’s AI tool was even more specific: 45.07. The result for “Kenya IQ” was equally exact: 75.2.
Hmm, these numbers seem very low. I wonder how these scores were determined.
Problem it wasn’t a hallucination - it was referencing a paper that has been debunked. These aren’t made up numbers, they’re VERY specific numbers that come from a VERY specific paper.
This one: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0160289610000450 – If I’m not mistaken. Created by a Nazi Sympathizer Richard Lynn and the Pioneer Fund
The problem is that this also managed to get cited more than 22,000x creating a feedback effect that reinforced the AI’s learning.
Okay, but it’s still got nothing to do with the dishonest rhetorical technique called “JAQing off” (a.k.a. “Just Asking Questions,” a.k.a. “sealioning”).
It’s kind of a … symptom … of the community we’re in. I wouldn’t read into it too deeply.