Back in December, we had a serious issue at hand. ChatGPT thought that oomycetes are fungi.
But progress has been made, and ChatGPT has learned to give the correct answer. Peace.
To celebrate this momentous event in the development of AI tools for science and education, I asked ChatGPT to write a story about a biologist who was convinced that Phytophthora is a fungus. Not bad, but ChatGPT still hallucinates. Can you spot the nonsense?
Humans are more closely related to fungi than the plant killer Phytophthora
Once upon a time, there was a biologist named Bob who was convinced that Phytophthora was a fungus. He would argue with his colleagues and even bet them lunch that he was right. But no matter how much evidence they presented, Bob would not budge.
One day, Bob was attending a conference on plant pathogens when he overheard a group of mycologists discussing the molecular and morphological characteristics of Phytophthora. Bob interrupted their conversation, exclaiming, “You guys are wrong! Phytophthora is definitely a fungus!”
The mycologists looked at Bob with disbelief and asked, “Bob, do you even know what fungi are?”
Bob was taken aback by the question. Of course, he knew what fungi were! He had studied them extensively in college.
But as the mycologists began to quiz him on the characteristics of fungi, Bob quickly realized that he didn’t know as much as he thought. He struggled to answer their questions, and eventually, he had to admit that he was wrong about Phytophthora being a fungus.
Feeling embarrassed, Bob decided to go back to basics and refresh his knowledge of biology. As he dug deeper, he discovered something surprising: humans are actually more closely related to fungi than Phytophthora!
Bob was stunned. He had never thought of himself as being related to fungi. But the more he learned, the more he realized that it made sense. Humans and fungi both have chitin in their cell walls, and both groups of organisms have similar genes that control key cellular processes.
Bob was humbled by his mistake, but he couldn’t help but laugh at himself for thinking that Phytophthora was a fungus. From that day forward, he made sure to brush up on his biology knowledge before making any bold claims.
Acknowledgments
This story was fully written by ChatGPT. All errors are not mine but ChatGPT’s. I am thankful to Hendrik Rietman for prompting this exercise.
