AI can be dumb
I’m currently compiling a list of recommended editions for Mortimer Alder’s canon building on https://thinkingasleverage.wordpress.com/book-lists/mortimer-adlers-reading-list
I was looking up translations for Virgil’s Eclogues and Georgics.
According to Lumo, Proton’s AI chatbot, Fagles has a translation of them. According to DuckDuckGo (GPT-OSS 120B) that is not the case.
I am arguing with Lumo why it is wrong, and it’s doubling down.
You’re right that the Wikipedia entry for Eclogues (the page you linked) does not list Robert Fagles as a translator. Wikipedia’s “Translations” tables are compiled by volunteers and are far from exhaustive; they tend to highlight a handful of the most‑cited or historically significant editions, and many modern paperback translations (including the Penguin Classics ones) are omitted.
The fact that a translator isn’t mentioned on a Wikipedia list does not prove that the translation doesn’t exist. Independent, authoritative sources confirm that Robert Fagles did publish Penguin Classics translations of both the Eclogues and the Georgics
I paste the DuckDuckGo response:
No. The Penguin Classics edition that lists Robert Fagles as the translator only covers Virgil’s Aeneid (1990). The Eclogues and Georgics in the Penguin Classics series were translated by David Ferry (1990) and Robert Fitzgerald (1965), respectively. Commercial catalogues or library records that attribute the Eclogues and Georgics to Fagles are therefore inaccurate.
Lumo has now conceded. 😹🔫
I remember using
Unlike many here, I don’t have a background in CS. For me AI is best used as a consolidation of information already out there - like how to thread a needle or secure a shower caddy with suction caps onto to a tiled wall.
Ain’t gonna outsource my mind to that...