Wikipedia talk:WikiProject AI Cleanup

New editor adding a lot of ChatGPT

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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User:Davecorbray is a new editor adding a lot of AI-generated text to articles about 19th century British prime ministers. I happened to have one, Spencer Perceval, on my watchlist as I had done a lot of work on the article some years ago. I thought there was something odd about the additions and eventually went through each paragraph checking the text against the sources and deleting the paragraphs where the sources did not support the text. That turned out to be all of them. I only thought of ChatGPT at that stage and the editor admitted on their talk page to using it, although rather downplayed their use of it. I replied with what I see as the problems [1]. As for the other articles - I have done a few spot checks and the additions seem likewise to be ChatGPT, with inappropriate "sources". I have never come across this before, and I wondered if someone with more experience could take a look at it. Southdevonian (talk) 22:22, 13 June 2024 (UTC)

Thanks a lot for signaling this! Yeah, adding false information and/or false references is just as much of a problem when it's done with ChatGPT (even more, as the person can do it at scale much easier). If they keep doing it after what you told them, best to formally give them something like {{uw-ai3}}, which looks like this:

Please stop. If you continue to make unconstructive edits to Wikipedia using a large language model (an "AI chatbot" or another application using such a technology), you may be blocked from editing.

If they still don't stop after the warning, you can send them to ANI or something. Chaotic Enby (talk · contribs) 22:28, 13 June 2024 (UTC)

@Chaotic Enby So does that mean I can’t edit Wikipedia? Not to be rude, but I think that you’re taking this a step up. I only used ChatGPT fairly recently (around a week from now). I only used it to help me with writing and researching rather than using it to spread falsehoods. I followed up on @Southdevonian your suggestion that ChatGPT can be tricky to use in terms of research and writing, as a machine it could be inconsistent and inaccurate sometimes to some degree. If any information or sources was false or misleading, I accept the responsibility for it and I apologise sincerely. Also I would remove information that is indeed irrelevant and not use further AI-generated content. But you should know that all the edits I have made since last month are all written by me and they have been fact-checked earlier beforehand, I only used ChatGPT only to help me out with paraphrasing long sentences and conducting certain research to accurately confirm some sources (which I accepted above as being incorrect and wrong). It isn’t that simple undoing edits that are frustratingly hard for the reader to understand and yes it is also similarly frustrating sometimes to turn up in dead ends when doing research on these topics. So that’s why I used ChatGPT and I didn’t intentionally use it to make misleading statements or anything else. Again, I apologise for any grievances caused by my edits. Davecorbray (talk) 23:29, 13 June 2024 (UTC)

If you are relying on ChatGPT's information for conducting certain research when you turn up in dead ends when doing research on these topics, and you didn't realize ChatGPT often gave you inaccurate or fully incorrect information, it's a mistake – but don't worry, we all make mistakes, and Southdevonian explained the situation to you. Now, you shouldn't do it, and write your Wikipedia edits in your own words without relying on information given by ChatGPT. That doesn't mean you can't edit Wikipedia, only that you shouldn't use ChatGPT for it. Not just "it's tricky so I should be careful", no, it spreads enough subtle falsehoods and fake references to basically be net zero information.

However, if you continued doing it after it has been explained to you, then it would not be a mistake but actively disruptive, and that is why I mentioned ANI.

Also, when you mention that your edits have been fact-checked earlier beforehand, was it with ChatGPT or by doing your own research and verifying inside the sources? ChatGPT is often known to make up sources that just don't exist, or to quote sources that don't say anything it claims. Chaotic Enby (talk · contribs) 00:24, 14 June 2024 (UTC)

@Chaotic Enby Thank you for your support and advice. Now I understand that the negative impact this has had the articles themselves and the need to fact-check any source that does not support the research. To answer your question “was it with ChatGPT or by doing your own research and verifying inside the sources”: yes, I do verify sources before using them in any form of reports, articles, essays or say summaries. But as I have noted in my previous statement, I only used ChatGPT about 2/1 weeks ago from now. That means that I was simply wasn’t using it before that time and again I only used it to either paraphrase or simplify sentences and words that might be unclear. It might have gotten quite mixed up in the end, I presume, but I don’t use ChatGPT in every one of my edits. Sources in this case, also similarly, have been inappropriately misused. For instance, I have asked Chat for sources on Spencer Perceval’s tenure as Attorney General and it returned sources that I, mistakenly believed, were actual because of assurances of it’s accuracy. But now I know that was a false alarm. So I am indeed very wrong in this aspect of the situation. So I would discontinue to use any ChatGPT for that matter then. Davecorbray (talk) 01:06, 15 June 2024 (UTC)

I have just realised that it is probably a case of sockpuppetry/block evasion as well User:Danjwilkie. Southdevonian (talk) 12:23, 15 June 2024 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Adding a category to users warned with the user templates

Hi all,

I was looking at the list of people supected of using AI, and it seems a bit outdated. Couldn't we just make the AI warning templates automatically add the users to a category? Acebulf ^{(talk | contribs)} 01:35, 17 June 2024 (UTC)

Sounds good to me. I'll go ahead and do it in a few days if no one else does so or objects. Queen of Hearts ^talk 01:58, 20 June 2024 (UTC)

 Done Queen of Hearts ^talk 03:31, 7 July 2024 (UTC)

@Acebulf: this search can be used to find pre-tracking-cat subst'd instances of the warning templates (229 results).   ~ Tom.Reding (talk ⋅dgaf)  09:55, 7 July 2024 (UTC)

Help with AI-written articles

An editor admitted to using AI to write two aircraft articles; Caproni Ca.104 and Focke-Wulf W 4, and has agreed to stop using AI to write more. Both articles have been determined to be largely inaccurate, but I am unsure about the proper course of action for dealing with such cases. My first instinct is to nominate them for CSD G3, but given the unfamiliar circumstances, I thought I'd bring it up here first. - ZLEA _T\^C 00:08, 1 July 2024 (UTC)

FYI: While investigating the CSD tag on Caproni Ca.104 image as a copyvio (and subsequently deleting it), I looked at the Caproni Ca.104 article which was tagged as a possible hoax. Because of the discussion on the talk page and the discussion at User talk:Sir MemeGod, I tagged and deleted the article as a G3 hoax. If the Focke-Wulf W 4 article has some valid text, I suggest deleting everything else and leaving what can be salvaged. Otherwise, ZLEA, I agree that the article should be tagged G3 as a AI-generated hoax. Afterwards it can be created from scratch using valid sources. — CactusWriter ^(talk) 01:21, 1 July 2024 (UTC)

Thanks a lot. - ZLEA _T\^C 02:00, 1 July 2024 (UTC)

yeah, such things strike me as clearly a case for WP:TNT, whatever path you take to that conclusion - David Gerard (talk) 08:21, 1 July 2024 (UTC)

Listed at MfD July 2024

See Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Wikipedia:WikiProject AI Cleanup/Possible AI-using editors. - SmokeyJoe (talk) 11:34, 28 July 2024 (UTC)

I wanted to share a helpful tip for spotting AI generated articles on Wikipedia

If you look up several buzzwords associated with ChatGPT and limit the results to Wikipedia, it will bring up articles with AI-generated text. For example I looked up "vibrant" "unique" "tapestry" "dynamic" site:en.wikipedia.org and I found some (mostly) low-effort articles. I'm actually surprised most of these are articles about cultures (see Culture of Indonesia, Culture of Qatar, or Culture of Indonesia). 95.18.76.205 (talk) 01:54, 2 September 2024 (UTC)

Thanks! That matches with Wikipedia:WikiProject AI Cleanup/AI Catchphrases, feel free to add any new buzzwords you find! Chaotic Enby (talk · contribs) 02:00, 2 September 2024 (UTC)