In a revealing and humorous experiment, cartoonist Martin Rowson has exposed the glaring inaccuracies of artificial intelligence by asking a simple personal question: "Who is Martin Rowson's wife?" The results, as documented in his recent account, range from comically incorrect to utterly bizarre, underscoring the technology's limitations and raising serious concerns about its widespread use.
The Game of AI Absurdity
Rowson describes accidentally inventing a new game, which he tentatively calls "How bloody stupid is AI?" The rules are straightforward: ask AI a basic question about yourself and observe how spectacularly it fails. For Rowson, this involved querying about his wife, whom he married in 1987 and who has intentionally maintained no online presence. This lack of digital footprint, he notes, makes the AI's errors all the more predictable yet astonishing.
A Parade of Fictional Spouses
When Rowson posed the question to Google's AI overview, the responses were a cavalcade of mistakes. Initially, it named Jeanette Winterson, the renowned lesbian author, which Rowson emphatically denies. As he repeated the query, the answers shifted wildly, producing a list of alleged wives that includes:
- Textile designer Fiona Scott-Wilson
- Poet Bridget Rose
- Actor Fiona Marr from Bridgerton
- Economist Ann Pettifor
- Various Julia Mills figures
- Writer and journalist Emily Rees
- Lawyer Siva Thambisetty, incorrectly linked as married to chess grandmaster Jonathan Rowson, whom AI also falsely claimed is Rowson's brother
- Journalist Carrie McLaren
- Channel 4 News presenter Cathy Newman
- CNN correspondent Clarissa Ward
- Journalist Rachel Johnson
- Even his own daughter
The absurdity deepened with suggestions like "journalist and author Kate Clements Rowson" and "writer/illustrator Helen Grant," with fabricated details about a son named Leo who supposedly plays jazz. Other fictitious entries included a former Guardian political editor Liz Kerr and playwright Lee Hall, despite Hall being male.
Confusion and Fabrication
AI further muddled facts by mentioning "historian and writer Jeanette Winterbottom," possibly confusing her with Jeanette Winterson, and citing collaborative projects that never existed, such as "The Guardian Book of Satire" and "The Dog's Diary." In one particularly egregious instance, it claimed Rowson had been married to Ann Widdecombe, Cathy Caldwell, and Polly Toynbee, portraying them as a prominent couple in UK media circles—all entirely false.
The Implications of AI's Errors
Rowson reflects that while his mythical marriage to Rachel Johnson, Boris Johnson's sister, might be comedy gold, the broader implications are troubling. He points out that AI, used by billions as a research tool, consistently generates nonsense, demonstrating a capacity to lie and tell users what it "thinks" they want to hear. He warns that combining this with the danger of idiots who believe they are clever could lead to disastrous outcomes.
Ultimately, Rowson's experiment serves as a stark reminder of AI's current shortcomings. As he quips, asking AI for insights might yield answers as random as "banana bread" or "Exterminate them all!"—highlighting why we should approach this technology with caution and skepticism.
