Senator Paula Simons 🇨🇦 @senatorpaulasimons.bsky.social:
A thread. The other day, I happened to clock the little AI-written bio attached to my name. It announced, quite confidently, that I was married, not to my husband, but to his brother. Particularly amusing, since my BIL is a proud member of the LGBQT community. I love him, but I am NOT his type.
Since then, I’ve been checking back in on my AI marital status. On Sunday, AI informed me that I was married to my high school grad date. He’s an accomplished lawyer in Edmonton. But we haven’t actually been out together since 1982.
I was telling this story to friends last night. I Googled again, and this time I found out that I was married to Edmonton journalist and podcaster @ryanjespersen.bsky.social and that we had two children. This was a great surprise to me. As it was to him.
I mentioned this story in passing to a Hill journalist this morning. So he tested it for himself, and found out that I was married to journalist Michael Gillan. According to my AI bio, Mike and I met when he and I were both journalism students in Ottawa. Except….
I didn’t go to university in Ottawa. Mike Gillan was actually the husband of the late Alberta senator Joyce Fairbairn, and he died in 2002. (I checked. That’s what it said in the Globe and Mail – I certainly didn’t want to trust the AI.)
So kids, please don’t rely on AI for your papers and projects. It makes stuff up. Its hallucinations are not even internally consistent. And by the time it’s done, I’ll have been “married” to more guys that Elizabeth Taylor!
Than. Not that!
Just in case you need evidence…
Oh wait! Now, as of this afternoon, I’m married to Scott McKeen! (I hope Ryan isn’t jealous.) #yeg#yegcc
The thing is, they’re all vaguely plausible. My BIL and my husband have the same surname. In a parallel universe, I might have married my grad date. Ryan and Scott are longtime journalism colleagues from Edmonton. But the AI is just deeply incorrect, while constructing believable narratives.
Paul Fairie @paulisci.bsky.social:
I just tested this and you’ve apparently been married to Luke LeBrun, Gil McGowan, Ian Kucerak, and someone whose name was rendered as Luke Black Wikipedia Maclean’s.
Senator Paula Simons 🇨🇦 @senatorpaulasimons.bsky.social:
All delightfully incorrect. But thank you for playing!
Paul Fairie @paulisci.bsky.social:
Honestly, an excellent party game.