2023-09-15 15:46:40
There are more and more guides dedicated to mushroom picking written by ChatGPT on Amazon. However, trusting these books can have tragic consequences… beware!
With ChatGPT, a simple prompt can be enough to write an entire book. As soon as the tool was launched at the end of 2022, some people had a juicy opportunity and were quick to massively produce mediocre works to sell them on Amazon Kindle or other platforms.
This is, for example, how tourists were duped by a guide written by ChatGPT, which sent them to the most famous and popular places in Paris by promising them “unknown places”. One traveler even ended up at the soup kitchen!
Likewise, many websites specializing in the publication of short stories and other fiction have been forced to refuse new text submissions. For good reason, they were literally flooded with stories written by AI.
Now another type of books written by ChatGPT terrify health authorities : mushroom picking guides sold on Amazon.
Fully AI-generated mushroom guides
Among Bestsellerswe include in particular “ Wild mushroom recipe book: from the forest to the gourmet plate, a complete guide to cooking with wild mushrooms » or « The Field Guide to the Southwestern Supreme Mushroom Books ».
On can also cite « Wild Mushroom Cookbook: A beginner’s guide to learning the basics of cooking with wild mushrooms for health and flavor, with easy-to-follow recipes! » or « Wild Mushroom Cookbook: Discover the Delicious Secrets of Nature’s Tastiest Mushrooms ».
Analyzed by Originality.ai and its AI content detector, the samples of these books obtain a score of 100%. This means that the system is pretty sure they are written by ChatGPT.
As an example of an extract, one of the guides mentions “ the sweet smell of freshly cooked mushrooms hung in the air, reminding me of good memories of my mother “. Another explains that “ Foraging for wild mushrooms is a deeply rewarding experience that connects us to the abundance of nature and the rich tapestry of flowers that the Earth offers ».
ChatGPT advice is extremely dangerous
I’d rather trust my own knowledge on mushrooms than ChatGPT ;-; pic.twitter.com/S1HSGx1c2v
— SchneeHund2 (@SchneeHund2) April 4, 2023
However, these books are not not just a bunch of clichés. They can also be extremely dangerous for readers who make the mistake of relying on their advice…
As Leon Frey, mycologist and organizer of harvests in Cornwall, England, explains, these books contain serious errors such as present taste and smell as a characteristic d’identification.
According to him, ” This seems to encourage tasting as a method of identification, when that absolutely should not be the case “. Indeed, certain wild mushrooms like Amanita phalloides have a similar taste edible mushrooms, but are toxic.
Still according to the British expert, one of the works also refers to the Lion’s Mane mushroom. The latter is certainly edible, but it is a protected species in the United Kingdom definitely not to pick up…
So, to avoid accidents or environmental destruction, Frey rrecommend opting for guides from reputable sources.
Likewise, specialist Myron Smith of Carleton University in Canada believes that these books are “ totally irresponsible “. According to him, ” some differences between edible and non-edible mushrooms are very subtle and a experienced eye as well as knowledge are essential to distinguish them »…
Faced with these dangerous guides produced by AI, health authorities are sounding the alarm. On la New York Mycological Society pointed ” flooding » from Amazon by mushroom identification books written by AI and implores Internet users to only buy books from well-known authors: “ its a question of life or death ».
????: PSA Alert!
????: link in bio@Amazon and other retail outlets have been inundated with AI foraging and identification books.Please only buy books of known authors and foragers, it can literally mean life or death. pic.twitter.com/FSqQLDhh42
— newyorkmyc (@newyorkmyc) August 27, 2023
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