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Researchers say an AI-powered transcription tool used in hospitals invents things no one ever said (apnews.com)

submitted 2 weeks ago by Stopthatgirl7@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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Tech behemoth OpenAI has touted its artificial intelligence-powered transcription tool Whisper as having near “human level robustness and accuracy.”

But Whisper has a major flaw: It is prone to making up chunks of text or even entire sentences, according to interviews with more than a dozen software engineers, developers and academic researchers. Those experts said some of the invented text — known in the industry as hallucinations — can include racial commentary, violent rhetoric and even imagined medical treatments.

Experts said that such fabrications are problematic because Whisper is being used in a slew of industries worldwide to translate and transcribe interviews, generate text in popular consumer technologies and create subtitles for videos.

More concerning, they said, is a rush by medical centers to utilize Whisper-based tools to transcribe patients’ consultations with doctors, despite OpenAI’ s warnings that the tool should not be used in “high-risk domains.”

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[–] magnetosphere@fedia.io 35 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

“This seems solvable if the company is willing to prioritize it.”

I know how to make the company prioritize it: make Whisper illegal to use (or even promote) until a certain threshold of accuracy is met. This software is absolute garbage at best, and a genuine hazard at worst.

Lame, ineffective “warnings” serve no purpose but to cover OpenAIs ass. Hit them in the wallet, and they’ll pay attention.

[–] Llewellyn@lemm.ee 4 points 2 weeks ago

I have an even better idea: make tool creators and / or CEO of the company, using the tool, liable for all tool's mistakes and hallucinations.

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