Good afternoon.
A section of a report supporting Australia’s teen social media ban appears to include links to academic articles that do not exist, a Senate inquiry has heard.
The authors of a report testing the technology underpinning the ban conceded ChatGPT was used in editing, but denied a number of citation errors in the report were due to AI hallucinations.
When asked about the allegation by Guardian Australia this month, a spokesperson initially denied the use of AI, but later conceded it had been used to rewrite paragraphs more succinctly. Guardian Australia’s own analysis of the report identified six references in the same section that contained errors.
Prof Christian Downie, from Australian National University, who has previously examined submissions to government that contained AI hallucinations, said if reports or submissions to government are found to have false citations in them – AI or otherwise – it could “erode public confidence and trust” in institutions.
Top news
-
Hayden Panettiere, actor in Heroes and Nashville, dies aged 36
-
Labor pledges opt-out register for online gambling ads akin to Do Not Call register for spam calls
-
Sydney Swans AFL players allegedly involved in Melbourne hotel incident
-
ABC removes content from three more stories by sacked reporter Mahmood Fazal
-
Ralph Carr in ‘living hell’ after being convicted of rape, Victorian court hears
In video
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder at the World’s Ugliest Dog contest, which marked its 50th year at the Sonoma County Fair in California. The competition, which promotes dog adoptions and ‘the imperfections that make all dogs special’, was won this year by Jinny Lu, a pug from South Korea.
What they said …
***
“Shame on you. You betray not only this community, but the national character. You will be condemned by history. The blood and the lives of those who will suffer and die will be on your hands, and will live in your consciences forever”. – Jordon Steele-John
Steele-John has accused the government of backing the “gas industry and the billionaires instead of … disabled people and our families”, as debate on the NDIS legislation in the Senate continues.
Podcast
The super-producer who made an album from his hospital bed
He has been described as the music industry’s secret weapon; a producer loved by artists such as Arctic Monkeys, Pulp and Jessie Ware. In 2024, James Ellis Ford was at the height of his career. Then, he was diagnosed with leukaemia and it all ground to a halt.
Isolated on a hospital ward and not allowed any visitors except his wife, he began making music as a way to pass the time. Those ideas bloomed into a full album, Lost in Another World.
Listen to the episode here.
Before bed read
In the latest edition of the Guardian’s Kindness of strangers series, Helen works through the grief of her mother dying, with help and kindness from a saleswoman at a stationery shop.
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: ZOO. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
Sign up
If you would like to receive this Afternoon Update to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here, or start your day with a curated breakdown of the key stories you need to know with our Morning Mail newsletter. You can follow the latest in US politics by signing up for This Week in Trumpland.
