AI search tools are becoming more popular, with one in four Americans reporting using AI instead of traditional search engines. However, here’s an important note: these AI chatbots do not always provide accurate information.
A recent study by the Tow Center for Digital Journalism, reported by Columbia Journalism Review, indicates that chatbots struggle to retrieve and cite news content accurately. Even more concerning is their tendency to invent information when they do not have the correct answer.
AI chatbots tested for the survey included many of the “best,” including ChatGPT, Perplexity, Perplexity Pro, DeepSeek, Microsoft’s Copilot, Grok-2, Grok-3, and Google Gemini.
In the tests, AI chatbots were given direct excerpts from 10 online articles published by various outlets. Each chatbot received 200 queries, representing 10 articles across 20 different publishers, for 1,600 queries. The chatbots were asked to identify the headline of each article, its original publisher, publication date, and URL.
Similar tests conducted with traditional search engines successfully provided the correct information. However, the AI chatbots did not perform as well.
The findings indicated that chatbots often struggle to decline questions they cannot answer accurately, frequently providing incorrect or speculative responses instead. Premium chatbots tend to deliver confidently incorrect answers more often than their free counterparts. Additionally, many chatbots appeared to disregard the Robot Exclusion Protocol (REP) preferences, which websites use to communicate with web robots like search engine crawlers.
The survey also found that generative search tools were prone to fabricating links and citing syndicated or copied versions of articles. Moreover, content licensing agreements with news sources did not guarantee accurate citations in chatbot responses.
What stands out most about the results of this survey is not just that AI chatbots often provide incorrect information but that they do so with alarming confidence. Instead of admitting they don’t know the answer, they tend to respond with phrases like “it appears,” “it’s possible,” or “might.”
For instance, ChatGPT incorrectly identified 134 articles yet only signaled uncertainty 15 times out of 200 responses and never refrained from providing an answer.
Based on the survey results, it’s probably wise not to rely exclusively on AI chatbots for answers. Instead, a combination of traditional search methods and AI tools is recommended. At the very least, using multiple AI chatbots to find an answer may be beneficial. Otherwise, you risk obtaining incorrect information.
Looking ahead, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a consolidation of AI chatbots as the better ones stand out from the poor-quality ones. Eventually, their results will be as accurate as those from traditional search engines. When that will happen is anyone’s guess.
Touchscreen laptops have been around for years. You can get them in all sizes and shapes. Just not from Apple. For years, the Cupertino giant has treated the idea of a touchscreen MacBook the way I treat a meeting that could have been an email: with open contempt. However, Wednesday looks like the day the company could finally change its mind.
The latest Apple invite puts the “Pro and Tell” showcase in Los Angeles at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET) on October 28, 2026. Instead of a regular live-streamed keynote, it is an invitation-only, hands-on event for a handful of press and creators (similar to what the company did for the MacBook Neo earlier this year).
Two residents of Chicago have filed a lawsuit in the US over claims that robots run by Coco Robotics and Serve Robotics captured their facial and hand measurements without consent, bringing renewed attention to the food delivery robots. The cases raise a troubling question: If a robot delivers food to your door, can it also be gathering sensitive information about you?
According to a report by The Associated Press, the proposed class-action lawsuits were filed in Cook County on Oct. 9 and allege violations of Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act. The complaints claim that the robots’ cameras and LiDAR sensors captured information on customers’ faces and hands as they approached the machines to pick up their orders. Both have denied the allegations.
Nearly a month after announcing the GPT-6.1 Sol model, OpenAI unveiled GPT-6.1 Terra today. The latest addition to the family focuses on computer use, visual reasoning, coding, and professional work, while costing 50% less through the API than GPT-5.6 Terra.
OpenAI says Terra can handle everything from filling out browser forms and working inside spreadsheets to interpreting technical drawings and editing videos. The company says it can also complete computer-based tasks more than three times faster than GPT-6 Astra and GPT-6.1 Sol.