Good morning! Today’s issue has a little bit of everything — a reminder about trusting AI a bit too much, a free holiday-shopping shortcut, and a fun new way to explore the world from your couch.
In today’s issue: why even lawyers keep getting caught trusting AI that makes things up, a free ChatGPT tool that does your holiday comparison-shopping for you, and a new free app that lets you explore satellite photos of anywhere on Earth.
Let’s get started.
NEWS
AI Chatbots Keep Making Up Fake Court Cases — and Even Lawyers Keep Falling For It
A legal researcher named Damien Charlotin keeps a running public list of court cases where someone — usually a lawyer, sometimes even a judge — got caught relying on an AI chatbot that simply invented something that doesn’t exist: a court case that was never decided, a quote nobody ever said, a law that isn’t real.
As of this week, his list has more than 2,280 of these cases, and new ones are being added every week.
In the tech world, this is called an AI “hallucination.” It doesn’t mean the AI is seeing things — it means the AI is stating something completely false, in smooth, confident sentences, as though it were simply reporting a fact. There’s no warning flag. It just sounds right.
Just this week, a lawyer in California was hit with a $5,000 fine and referred to the state bar for citing a court case in an official filing that turned out not to exist — proof this isn’t just an amateur mistake.
Takeaway: Whenever you ask a chatbot something that actually matters — a legal question, a medical detail, any fact you plan to rely on — look it up yourself from a real source before trusting it.
TRY THIS
Dreading the Holiday Shopping Guesswork? Let ChatGPT Do the Comparison Shopping For You
If you’ve ever stared at twenty nearly-identical blenders or walking shoes online with no idea which one to actually buy, there’s a free tool built for exactly that. ChatGPT — the free chatbot at chatgpt.com or in its app — has a “shopping research” feature built right in, and you don’t need to pay anything extra to use it.
Just describe what you’re shopping for and answer a few quick follow-up questions, like your budget, who it’s for, and what matters most to you. ChatGPT looks across the web and puts together a short, organized buying guide comparing your best options, with plain-language reasons for each one. You can keep adjusting it afterward — “something smaller,” “a cheaper option,” “nothing with plastic” — and it’ll refine the list.
It’s a helpful head start for holiday shopping, but it can occasionally get a detail wrong, like a current price or whether something’s in stock — so always double-check on the actual store’s website before you buy.
Takeaway: Open the free version of ChatGPT and describe what you’re shopping for in plain English — it will do the comparison-shopping legwork and hand you a simple buyer’s guide.
— eWeek
TRY THIS
A Free New Tool Lets You Ask Questions About Any Spot on Earth, Using Real Satellite Photos
Earlier this week, a satellite imagery company called Planet made a new AI tool free for anyone to try. It’s called the Planet AI app, and it lets you explore roughly ten years of satellite photos covering the entire planet just by typing a question in plain English — no map-reading skill or technical background required.
You could ask it to show you how a lake or a stretch of coastline has changed over the past decade, or to look for new construction near a place you know well. You describe what you’re curious about the same way you’d ask a person, and it finds the relevant photos for you to look at yourself.
A quick caution: this tool is aimed mostly at researchers, farmers, and conservation groups, so it leans a bit more technical than a typical photo app, and you’ll need to create a free account at ai.planet.com to use it. But as of this week, it’s free for anyone willing to give it a try.
Takeaway: If you’re curious how a familiar place has changed over the years, Planet’s new free AI tool (ai.planet.com) will show you real satellite photos — just type your question in plain English and sign up for a free account.
Until tomorrow,
EZ AI