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I recently (in the last month) asked ChatGPT to cite its sources for some scientific data. It gave me completely made up, entirely fabricated citations for acad

I recently (in the last month) asked ChatGPT to cite its sources for some scientific data. It gave me completely made up, entirely fabricated citations for academic papers that did not exist.

yuvalr1 2y ago
Did the model search the internet? The behavior you're describing sounds like an older model behavior. When I ask for links to references these days, it searches the internet the gives me links to real papers that are often actually relevant and helpful.
- stanford_labrat 2y ago
  I don’t recall that it ever mentioned if it did or not. I don’t have the search on hand but from my browser history I did the prompt engineering on 11/18 (which perhaps there is a new model since then?). I actually repeated the prompt just now and it actually gave me the correct, opposite response. For those curious, I asked ChatGPT what turned on a gene, and it said Protein X turns on Gene Y as per -fake citation-. Asking today if Protein X turns on Gene Y ChatGPT said there is no evidence, and showed 2 real citations of factors that may turn on Gene Y. Pretty impressed!
alphan0n 2y ago
Share a link to the conversation.
- madaxe_again 2y ago
  What a bizarre thing to request. Do you go around accusing everyone of lying?
  - alphan0n 2y ago
    So sorry to offend your delicate sensibilities by calling out a blatant lie from someone completely unrelated to yourself. Pretty bizarre behavior in itself to do so.
    - dbbk 2y ago
      Except there are news stories of this happening to people
      - alphan0n 2y ago
        I suspect there being a shred of plausibility is why there’s so many people lying about it for attention. It’s as simple as copying and pasting a link to prove it. If it is actually happening, it would benefit us all to know the facts surrounding it.
        stanford_labrat 2y ago
        sure, here's a link of a conversation from today 12/9/24 which has multiple incorrect: references, links, papers, journal titles, DOIs, and authors. https://chatgpt.com/share/6757804f-3a6c-800b-b48c-ffbf144d73d6 https://chatgpt.com/share/6757804f-3a6c-800b-b48c-ffbf144d73... as just another example, chatgpt said in the Okita paper that they switched media on day 3, when if you read the paper they switched the media on day 8. so not only did it fail to generate the correct reference, it also failed to accurately interpret the contents of a specific paper.
        deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
- barrkel 2y ago
  Here you go: https://chatgpt.com/share/6754df02-95a8-8002-bc8b-59da11d276a0 https://chatgpt.com/share/6754df02-95a8-8002-bc8b-59da11d276... ChatGPT regularly searches and links to sources.
  - alphan0n 2y ago
    I was asking for a link to the conversation from the person I was replying to.

I recently (in the last month) asked ChatGPT to cite its sources for some scientific data. It gave me completely made up, entirely fabricated citations for academic papers that did not exist.

yuvalr1 2y ago

Did the model search the internet? The behavior you're describing sounds like an older model behavior. When I ask for links to references these days, it searches the internet the gives me links to real papers that are often actually relevant and helpful.

stanford_labrat 2y ago
I don’t recall that it ever mentioned if it did or not. I don’t have the search on hand but from my browser history I did the prompt engineering on 11/18 (which perhaps there is a new model since then?). I actually repeated the prompt just now and it actually gave me the correct, opposite response. For those curious, I asked ChatGPT what turned on a gene, and it said Protein X turns on Gene Y as per -fake citation-. Asking today if Protein X turns on Gene Y ChatGPT said there is no evidence, and showed 2 real citations of factors that may turn on Gene Y. Pretty impressed!

alphan0n 2y ago

Share a link to the conversation.

madaxe_again 2y ago
What a bizarre thing to request. Do you go around accusing everyone of lying?
- alphan0n 2y ago
  So sorry to offend your delicate sensibilities by calling out a blatant lie from someone completely unrelated to yourself. Pretty bizarre behavior in itself to do so.
  - dbbk 2y ago
    Except there are news stories of this happening to people
    - alphan0n 2y ago
      I suspect there being a shred of plausibility is why there’s so many people lying about it for attention. It’s as simple as copying and pasting a link to prove it. If it is actually happening, it would benefit us all to know the facts surrounding it.
      - stanford_labrat 2y ago
        sure, here's a link of a conversation from today 12/9/24 which has multiple incorrect: references, links, papers, journal titles, DOIs, and authors. https://chatgpt.com/share/6757804f-3a6c-800b-b48c-ffbf144d73d6 https://chatgpt.com/share/6757804f-3a6c-800b-b48c-ffbf144d73... as just another example, chatgpt said in the Okita paper that they switched media on day 3, when if you read the paper they switched the media on day 8. so not only did it fail to generate the correct reference, it also failed to accurately interpret the contents of a specific paper.
        deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
barrkel 2y ago
Here you go: https://chatgpt.com/share/6754df02-95a8-8002-bc8b-59da11d276a0 https://chatgpt.com/share/6754df02-95a8-8002-bc8b-59da11d276... ChatGPT regularly searches and links to sources.
- alphan0n 2y ago
  I was asking for a link to the conversation from the person I was replying to.