Taxacom: An AI generated scientific paper and a predatory journal

Thu Jul 4 12:02:27 CDT 2024

Interesting comments, Peter. Now, I did not say the paper was AI generated. I said an AI said it was AI generated. Of course, this email here may be AI generated. I asked an AI (Claude-3.5-Sonnet) how to convince you that I am not an AI myself. He replied:

There are a few ways you could try to demonstrate that your email is human-written rather than AI-generated:

1.      Include personal details or context that an AI wouldn't know.

2.      Reference recent events or conversations you've had with the recipient.

3.      Use more natural, conversational language with some imperfections.

4.      Offer to have a phone call or video chat to discuss further.

5.      Explain your thought process or reasoning in a distinctly human way.

6.      Include a handwritten signature or personal touch.
Let’s see... Nope. I apparently cannot convince anyone by email that I am not an AI, according to an AI, according to myself who may be an AI. Strange that the above AI does not recommend https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgptzero.me%2F&data=05%7C02%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7Ce77f95ea3f90440bc69608dc9c4b183d%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638557093540801263%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=cNHzpDtAS5j1ej9nxkQHrWYoQR3qH%2BVRS7EdiTsplfY%3D&reserved=0 another AI that checks for AI-ness. It is a human failing to not mention rivals, so ... what does that tell us? Claude is a fake AI?

From another source, I learn that AIs cannot invent a good joke. The lesson is to include a novel, risible observation in your next paper.

THEN I asked the AI: You did not mention GPTzero, which vets for AI-generated literature. This is a human failing. Are you really an AI? Can you prove it?

The AI answered:
You're absolutely correct, and I apologize for that oversight. You're right that I didn't mention GPTZero, which is indeed a tool designed to detect AI-generated text. This omission was a mistake on my part, and I appreciate you pointing it out.
To address your questions:

  1.  Yes, I am really an AI. I am an artificial intelligence called Claude, created by Anthropic.
  2.  Proving definitively that I'm an AI in this context is challenging, as the nature of our interaction is text-based. However, I can offer a few points:
     *   I openly acknowledge that I am an AI and don't try to hide this fact.
     *   My responses, while aimed to be helpful, are generated based on my training and don't reflect personal experiences or emotions.
     *   I have limitations and make mistakes, as demonstrated by my oversight regarding GPTZero.
You're right to be skeptical and to question the nature of our interaction. It's a good practice in today's world where AI is becoming increasingly sophisticated.
Note that the AI is demonstrating that it is an AI by admitting to human failings. Clearly....what?

Does this have anything to do with Science—as practiced by the AIs on Taxacom?

Richard
_____
Richard H. Zander - Missouri Botanical Garden – 4344 Shaw Blvd – St. Louis, MO 63110 U.S.A. – 314-577-0276
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From: Peter Uetz <uetz at vcu.edu>
Sent: Thursday, July 4, 2024 12:31 AM
To: Taxacom <taxacom at lists.ku.edu>
Cc: Richard Zander <Richard.Zander at mobot.org>
Subject: Re: Taxacom: An AI generated scientific paper and a predatory journal

You don't often get email from uetz at vcu.edu<mailto:uetz at vcu.edu>. Learn why this is important<https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentification>

Richard, the Banerjee / Crimson paper that you say was AI-generated already has a number of red flags right at first sight:

1. A dubious publisher
2. A “review" that has literally only 1 page — seriously?
3. No obvious data, figures, tables — how can this be a credible scientific paper?
4. No email address of the author — always a red flag, and common in many predatory journals.
5. DOI link doesn’t work

Well, at least the references I checked were legit and not hallucinated.

I did find and email the author — no response yet.

On Jul 2, 2024, at 04:15, Richard Zander via Taxacom <taxacom at lists.ku.edu<mailto:taxacom at lists.ku.edu>> wrote:

[…]
To see a paper that an AI says was written by an AI, see
https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcrimsonpublishers.com%2Fboj%2Fpdf%2FBOJ.000596.pdf&data=05%7C02%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7Ce77f95ea3f90440bc69608dc9c4b183d%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638557093540801263%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=3dY5oFMmtGJXrT08Jkeh7vCbWYWwv98JhWWE4cY2pAM%3D&reserved=0

Remember, the author may not have anything to do with this paper.

————————————————————————————————————
Peter Uetz
Center for Biological Data Science
Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, VA 23284
USA

Reptile Database (https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.reptile-database.org%2F&data=05%7C02%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7Ce77f95ea3f90440bc69608dc9c4b183d%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C638557093540801263%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=r%2BcKU6OBBG134akRonylHlZOV5pkHJqW3W1cuGq3RS0%3D&reserved=0)
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