AI information (or lack of it).
I asked gemini ai a relatively simple question: "Find me 10 (ten), quotes attritubed to Frithjof Schuon"
For those who don't know he was a 20th century philosopher, metaphysician, and author, who left behind a large amount of profound insights and spiritual wisdom.
None of his writings were ever banned (so far as I know), but gemini ai didn't want to have anything to do with this search, giving me the following message:
"I can access and process information but am restricted from directly providing content that could be considered unsafe, like quotes that might be misconstrued as religious doctrine."
Schuon wrote about most known religions and was known for his ability to research deep into the foundations of religious traditions with out being dismissive of any one over the others.
But, for plebs like me Google wants to keep me safe from his opinions, which spanned a career of more than 60 years of research, teaching and writing.
Amazing! ChatGPT and Claude had no issues in giving me some of his quotes.
Even more amazing is a search of " Schuon on religion" returns any number of places I can buy books or do some research.
How is that not unsafe Google?
Is it safe to write about the unusual habits of the locals if you are writing about travel? The way they dress, or sacrificial ceremonies?
If Googles "flagship" ai program is only programmed to provide sanitised, or no information, then will the same conditions apply to indexing blog articles,? or will one openly honest article on a blog with with hundreds of articles be relegated to dark recesses of the Google searches?
Maybe I am a conspiracy theroist? but I do wonder what is going on.
Recent Comments
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Google has pledged faithfulness to DEI, which does not endorse religion, especially Christianity. Now you've experienced it.
It's how there were black Nazi soldiers and Asian women Vikings. Even a black Pope. All were generated by Google's AI
Google has an agenda, and being truthful isn't the top priority. They've fully stated that DEI is.
Hi Michael
Yes, depending on the AI platform and even the time and day, one can get a variety of restriction-based responses. I'm guessing that this will only become a bigger issue as AI training continues to reflect the desires of various individuals and organizations.
Some niches, like healthcare, are already notoriously challenging to rank on Google, especially for low-DA sites. Also, Google's definition of an "undesirable" article or site may be open to interpretation, at least to some degree.
Frank 🎸
Thanks Frank.
We are living in strange times.
Enjoy the weekend and let's hope next week rolls in your favor!
Michael.
Well, Gemini is a twin....maybe you spoke with the bad one...like Gufus and Gallant...grin.
Seriously, Ai is created by developers whose input may be restricted or restrictive based on their own ideals, or country regulations.
That's only one Ai that was unable to provide what you asked.
You did get the info from the larger Ai sources.
I dont see a conspiracy...
However, when Ai uses a program to validate you being human, well, now that could be something to keep in mind.
Rudy
I nearly choked on my coffee when I saw that Rudy.
I must have looked away and looked back half a dozen times before I believed it. lol.
Anyway, the day got better
Michael.
Mick, I tried it, it gave me a list of resources. Did you get that? It cited some resources I could use to look for quotes from Frithjof Schuon. I suggest you try again and perhaps rephrase your prompt. I did, and it gave me a list of sources to find those quotes in the SERPs, but it did not tell me that it is "restricted due to religious doctrine," as you stated. The list of sources did include some from Google Scholar. Interesting, Gemini must be fickle, hence the name- how ironic. LOL
It did give me a short list of where to find them too Brenda, but it was the opening paragraph that got me. I mean really!!?
The actual prompt:-
"Frithjof Schuon, a philosopher, metaphysician, and author, left behind a legacy of profound insights and spiritual wisdom. Give me about 10 qoutes attritubed to him."
The first one returned a reply of " I'm a text-based AI and can't assist with that." ???.
The screenshot is the reponse from my third attempt
Interestingly, I did not get that" opening paragraph " statement. Therefore, I can conclude it's fickle, hence the name Gemini- yeah? Duh, AI can be dumb. If you tried the same prompt the second time around, you will get a different answer; perhaps it's just a fluke; it shakes out dumb comments sometimes.
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Interesting. I shall have to try that out myself. I know I am a conspiracy theorist, so . . .
Karin
Haha 👍