Google's New Search: Factually Incorrect, But You Can't Escape It

When ChatGPT burst onto the scene in late 2022, Google got spooked. Suddenly, AI was all anyone could talk about. Every Google announcement since then has been packed with AI jargon - it's the backbone of their products and the driving force behind their search engine. One issue with ChatGPT and its rivals? They confidently spout facts that are completely made up. Almost two years later, generative AI chatbots still 'hallucinate' false information on a regular basis. Google introduced AI into Google Search last year in beta form. In 2023, they launched AI Overviews, making them available across search results in the US. But these Overviews have been a massive failure for Google - they continue to spread inaccurate, misleading info. Enter Consensus, a brand new type of AI-powered search engine that aims to provide only factual information, all the time. The catch? Most people haven't heard of it and even after learning about it, you might not find much use for it no matter how reliable it is. Consensus isn't here to compete with Google Search or OpenAI's upcoming SearchGPT. The site doesn't cover general info like traditional search engines, AI-powered or otherwise. Instead, Consensus only looks at information from research papers published on the web - and there are about 200 million of those that Consensus can access.

To use it, just go to the Consensus app on the web here and ask your question in a conversational manner, like you would with ChatGPT. Questions have to focus on some kind of scientific data though. Maybe you want to know if adding a certain supplement to your diet could improve running performance? Ask Consensus and it'll tell you exactly how many studies have been published about that and what they say. The AI search engine will even give you a 'consensus meter' showing how the results vary - not all research studies may have reached the same conclusion. You also get summaries of the studies, snapshots for each cited paper, and can view the actual studies if desired. Finally, you can chat with Consensus just like ChatGPT by enabling the Copilot feature, which uses OpenAI's GPT-4 to generate parts of its answers. Consensus is free forever to get science-related questions answered. Free plans limit access to GPT-4 though. Paid subscriptions start at $8.99/year or $11.99/month, with student discounts available too. Students are probably one of the best-served groups for an AI search engine like this. I might not always have a use for Consensus, but I'm already sold on it, even just for the free experience. I'll bookmark the AI search engine and go to it whenever I suspect scientists may have tried to answer a particular question I'm curious about.

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