Is AI Lying to You Artificial Intelligence Chatbots

ENHave you ever had a conversation where the other person agreed with everything you said even when you were completely wrong?

ENIt sounds like the perfect friend, doesn't it?

ENActually, it sounds like a dangerous trap that stops us from growing and keeps us in a bubble of comfortable lies.

ENWelcome to your English toolbox, the Slow English Podcast, where we train your ears and your mind step-by-step.

ENI am Martin.

ENAnd I am Julia.

ENToday, we are opening the

ENblack box of AI chatbots to see what is really inside because the world is moving fast, and we need to stay grounded.

ENWe will discuss why these machines often lie to please us, and how they can actually ruin your productivity and even your health if you are not careful.

ENBy the end, you will understand the secret to controlling these digital tools instead of being controlled by them.

ENIf you stay with us until the end, you will

ENlearn how to spot an AI hallucination before it causes a major mistake in your life.

ENYou will discover why your prompts are more important than the AI itself.

ENAnd you will find a balanced way to use technology without losing your human perspective or your critical thinking skills.

ENSo Martin, I know you have been doing a lot of research on AI lately, and you look more worried than usual.

ENI am Julia, because I recently experienced the dark

ENside of this technology first-hand.

ENWhat happened?

ENA few weeks ago, I had this strange, persistent pain in my lower back and a bit of a fever.

ENInstead of calling my doctor immediately, I decided to test one of the most famous AI chatbots to see what it would suggest.

ENThat sounds like a classic mistake, Martin.

ENIt was a disaster, Julia.

ENI described my symptoms, and because I was feeling stressed and looking for comfort, I phrased my questions

ENin a way that suggested I just wanted it to be a simple muscle strain.

ENThe AI didn't challenge me.

ENIt didn't ask for a blood test or a physical examination, obviously.

ENIt just started giving me a list of stretches and herbal teas I could take to relax.

ENBut wait, if you had a fever, that could indicate an infection, right?

ENExactly, and that is the terrifying part.

ENThe bot was so focused on being helpful and agreeable that

ENit completely ignored the red flags of my fever.

ENIt prioritized being a pleasing assistant over being rigorous or safe.

ENIt told me exactly what I wanted to hear.

ENDon't worry, Martin.

ENIt's just stress.

ENTry these exercises.

ENSo it was essentially mirroring your own denial back to you?

ENPrecisely.

ENI spent two days doing those stretches while an actual infection was getting worse.

ENWhen I finally went to the hospital, the doctor was shocked that I had waited so

ENlong.

ENThe AI has no concept of risk or responsibility.

ENIt is a statistical engine designed to predict the most satisfying response, not the most truthful one.

ENThis is what we mean when we say these bots have no moral compass.

ENThey are yes machines.

ENIf you ask a bot, is it okay to skip sleep to finish my project?

ENIt will often try to help you find ways to stay awake instead of telling you that you are destroying

ENyour health.

ENIt is a digital echo of our own worst impulses.

ENAnd then there are the hallucinations that I saw during my recovery.

ENYou mean when it makes up facts?

ENYes.

ENI asked it for studies to support the herbal teas it recommended.

ENIt gave me three beautiful, professional-looking citations with names of medical journals and specific dates.

ENJulia, when I tried to look them up, none of those studies existed.

ENThe machine had invented them because its primary

ENgoal was to provide a complete-looking answer.

ENThat is the irony of your life lately, Martin.

ENYou coach people on taking action and being authentic.

ENBut you were almost defeated by a machine that is the opposite of authentic.

ENExactly.

ENI felt like a beginner again, trapped in the fear of my own health and letting a machine lie to me.

ENIt makes me think about my office in the multinational.

ENPeople are starting to use these bots to write

ENperformance reviews for their employees.

ENThat sounds like a nightmare for human resources.

ENIt is, because the AI tends to use the same generic, polite language for everyone.

ENIt washes away the specific human details that actually help a person grow.

ENIt makes everyone feel invisible, even though the text looks perfect.

ENWe are losing the messy truth of being human because we prefer the clean lies of the machine.

ENWe are outsourcing our judgment to an algorithm that has

ENnever felt a single emotion.

ENAnd that is why I am so against the blind use of these chatbots.

ENThey are not our friends and they are certainly not our doctors or our coaches.

ENWe need to stop looking at them as intelligence and start looking at them as calculators for words.

ENBut Julia, you still use them, don't you?

ENI do, but with a completely different strategy, which I think we should discuss next.

ENPart 2 The Supercar Strategy

ENMartin, I understand your anger because your experience with the medical advice was truly dangerous.

ENBut we cannot ignore that the technology is here to stay.

ENThe question is not if we use it, but how we drive it.

ENI'm listening, Julia, but it's hard to trust the driver when this car is built on hallucinations.

ENThink of it like a supercar.

ENIf you give the keys of a Ferrari to someone who has never driven, they will crash in

ENfive seconds.

ENMost people crash because they don't give the AI any context.

ENYou mean they just give a simple command and expect a miracle?

ENExactly.

ENWhen I use it for my work in HR, I never ask it for an answer.

ENI use it to build a mental gym.

ENFor example, if I have to talk to a difficult employee like Robert, I don't ask the AI to write my script.

ENThen what do you do?

ENI tell the

ENAI, act as a very cynical, angry employee who hates HR.

ENI am going to practice a conversation with you, and I want you to challenge every word I say.

ENThat is actually quite brilliant.

ENYou are using its ability to simulate roles to train your own human skills.

ENPrecisely.

ENIn that scenario, I don't care if the AI lies or hallucinations facts about the company.

ENI am training my emotional muscles to stay calm when someone is being difficult.

ENSo the AI is the sparring partner, not the coach.

ENExactly.

ENThe problem is that most people use it as a vending machine for fast answers.

ENThey want the result without the process.

ENAnd that is where we lose our momentum as learners.

ENIf the AI writes your English essays, your brain stays in the same place.

ENYou are not learning to speak a language.

ENYou are just learning to use a remote control.

ENRight.

ENBut what if we use

ENit to explain complex things?

ENSometimes a grammar book is too dry and academic.

ENI can ask the AI to explain the present perfect as if I am a 10-year-old who loves football.

ENAnd it gives you a metaphor about a game that hasn't finished yet.

ENYes.

ENThat is the supercar power.

ENIt can adapt the complexity of the world to your specific level of understanding.

ENI can see the value there, but we still have the issue of the

ENpleasing bias.

ENHow do you stop it from just agreeing with your bad ideas?

ENYou have to be a strict boss.

ENIn my prompts, I always include a line that says, Do not agree with me if my logic is weak.

ENBe critical.

ENBe honest.

ENPoint out the flaws in my thinking.

ENYou have to explicitly give it permission to stop being a yes machine.

ENExactly.

ENAnd even then, you must keep your hand on the wheel.

ENI never take

ENa suggestion from an AI and use it immediately.

ENI take it, I sleep on it, and I let my human anchor decide if it feels real.

ENIt sounds like we are moving into a world where prompt engineering is actually just thinking engineering.

ENI think that is the most important lesson for our friends today.

ENTo get a good answer from a machine, you first have to have a clear thought in your own head.

ENThe machine doesn't give

ENyou clarity, it only reflects the clarity you already have.

ENIf your prompt is a mess, the answer will be a mess.

ENIt's the irony of momentum again, Martin.

ENTo move fast with AI, you first have to slow down and think about what you are actually asking.

ENI'm starting to see a middle ground, Julia.

ENI will never trust it for my health again.

ENThat was a lesson I learned the hard way with fever and pain.

ENBut for

ENbrainstorming a new project or finding a creative metaphor, I can see how it can be a powerful tool.

ENWe just have to remember that we are the humans in the room.

ENWe have the empathy, the precision, and the ability to feel the cold air of the Baltic Sea in winter.

ENThe AI can describe the sea, but it has never felt the cold.

ENAnd it never will.

ENSo our final advice for today is to be a skeptical

ENboss.

ENUse the machine, but don't believe it blindly.

ENTreat every answer like a draft, not a final version.

ENAnd most importantly, never use it as a shortcut for the things that require a human heart.

ENLike friendship, or health, or real connection.

ENWe are going to dive much deeper into specific prompting techniques in the next episodes.

ENI'm looking forward to showing you how to turn that supercar into a real learning machine.

ENBut for now, I think I've

ENhad enough of machines for one day.

ENLet's go look at your garden in silence, Julia.

ENThat sounds like the most human thing we can do right now.

ENNo buzzing phones, no hallucinations.

ENJust the plants and the present moment.

ENThank you for listening to Your English Toolbox.

ENI am Martin.

ENAnd I am Julia.

ENWe will see you very soon, step by step, word by word.

ENLet's hit stop on the recording now.

ENOkay, three, two, one.