How can you trust an information source?

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I was thinking this morning, how can I trust any AI even Gemini as an information source when it hallucinates and makes things up?

The answer is I don’t. I double and triple check every source of information that I get. In the old days when I used to use Google to find information, I would cross check it against other sources of information. I also used to love reading Wikipedia, but sometimes there were mistakes and corrections so that became a challenge to trust as well.

The truth is that it is a daily struggle to find information you can trust. In my work I triple check everything that I share because I don’t want to look like I just did a web search and said the first thing that popped up. I want to ground it in my experience, so I consider and research and investigate and then report the options when I am asked.

Now I understand that most people don’t have the time to do this. They may have a job where they don’t have the time to spend researching things on the computer. I get it. Everyone has to do what they think is the best use of their time. However they also can’t complain when their choices turn out to be mistakes.

Now mistakes are natural and potentially teach us. My mistakes in life taught me everything. But when you can’t afford to make mistakes because you are financially struggling or other reasons, that makes researching before you make a decision even more important.

What is stunning to me is to watch videos of people who say they made a mistake, and then when they are asked if they researched it before they made their choice they say no. I don’t have sympathy for that. We all have a choice before we make a decision. We can stop and consider our actions, or just like an animal that doesn’t think, do it. I am a conscious human, not a dumb machine. I am defined by my choices, and I don’t let my choices define me.