Microsoft's Bing seek engine claims Australia would not exist

It isn't always just generative AI that every now and then gets things very incorrect. Microsoft search engine Bing instructed some customers the day gone by that the united states of Australia does not exist, repeating a jokey (to a few) conspiracy principle that has been circulating online for the reason that 2017 – although its source should date returned even further.

Australian users of Bluesky and Mastodon had been amazed the day before today to find Bing turned into informing them that the us of a they have been in failed to truely exist.

As mentioned by way of The Guardian, Microsoft's seek engine changed into answering the unusual question about the arena's 6th-largest country with an emphatic "No." Bing said this become in step with several resources.

The conspiracy concept approximately Australia's non-lifestyles can reportedly be traced back to a consumer on the Flat Earth Society forum – in which else – who stated the whole lot about the u . S . Became made up, snap shots have been faked, and all people who claimed to be from there was clearly a mystery government agent. One could imagine this changed into someone trolling, but who is aware of, given its source.

A authorities spy?

There changed into then a Facebook post that claimed Australia is "one in every of the largest hoaxes ever created," a conspiracy notion up with the aid of the British to make humans suppose that criminals have been despatched there in place of being thrown into the sea.

"It's a coverup for one of the finest mass murders in records, made with the aid of one of the most distinguished empires... Australia is not real. It's a codeword for the cold blooded homicide of extra than 100 thousand human beings, and it is not k. We will no longer, take delivery of this. Stand up for the ones who died. Let it's known, that Australia does now not exist," the publish examine. It became deleted after the writer obtained one hundred or so demise threats from angry Australians.

We're used to seeing those kinds of factually wrong and just undeniable weird statements spouted through generative AIs, but what's maximum sudden approximately all this is that Bing co-pilot, formerly Bing Chat, showed Australia is real. It also referred to that there are conspiracy theories surrounding the country's lifestyles, but these are not genuine and had been debunked.

A spokesperson for Microsoft stated the Bing trouble have been addressed. "Thank you for bringing this to our attention," the spokesperson said. "We've investigated this question and feature rolled out a repair to deal with it."

Anyone who believes that the land down below isn't always actual will in all likelihood see Bing's error as further proof, tragically. However, our very own Steve Walton and Tim Schiesser will likely have some thing to mention about that.

Masthead: Catarina Sousa