User talk:Davecorbray

Welcome![edit]

Hi Davecorbray! I noticed your contributions and wanted to welcome you to the Wikipedia community. I hope you like it here and decide to stay.

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Happy editing! :Jay8g [V•T•E] 02:20, 19 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. :) Davecorbray (talk) 02:21, 19 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Recent additions[edit]

Hello Davecorbray. I wanted to ask you if the text you have recently been adding to articles about British prime ministers is AI-generated. Southdevonian (talk) 23:55, 12 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I don’t use AI often, but I recently downloaded the app ChatGPT to help with my writing. For instance, like shortening sentences that are too long or simplifying certain information to make it more clear to read. It is sometimes hard to write down all the information that I get my hands on and write it in a summarised manner. So in that case, I would use AI. Only in that occasion only. And also, if you don’t mind me asking this but is the using AI wrong in this case? Davecorbray (talk) 15:38, 13 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I have never come across someone using ChatGPT on Wikipedia before, which probably explains why it took me so long to realise what was going on. I spent about three hours going through your additions to Spencer Perceval checking each paragraph against the sources cited and removing the ones where the source did not in fact support the text (which was all of them). It was only afterwards that I suspected the problem was ChatGPT. The problems with using ChatGPT include:

It is sometimes simply wrong - for example Hardy and Thelwell were acquitted, not found guilty (and they were prosecuted by Lord Eldon not Perceval);

It seems to get confused about timelines - for example including events that happened outside of a particular prime-minister's tenure as happening within it;

The language and tone is often inappropriate for Wikipedia and there is a lot of waffle.

The major problem is that the added text is unsourced, because the sources provided by ChatGPT have nothing to do with the text. I will use a paragraph you added to Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston as an example.

"In tandem with these social reforms, Palmerston’s government addressed issues related to juvenile delinquency and the welfare of vulnerable children. The Industrial Schools Act of 1861 provided for the establishment of schools aimed at rehabilitating young offenders and children at risk. These schools offered vocational training and basic education, helping children to develop skills that would enable them to lead productive lives. Palmerston’s administration also focused on improving the welfare of workers through various legislative measures, such as the Factory Acts, which regulated working hours and conditions, particularly for women and children. These acts were essential in mitigating the harsh realities of industrial labor and ensuring a safer working environment for the working class.^[1]^[2]"

Most of it is just waffle and the language and tone is wrong for Wikipedia. It is not true that the Industrial Schools Act 1861 "provided for the establishment of schools..." That had already been done by a previous Act. The 1861 Act simply extended the power of magistrates to send children to industrial schools. The Factory Acts of this period brought other occupations into the sphere of the Factory but did not represent a major step forward. None of the text is supported by the two references. The first is about 19th century education but does not mention Industrial Schools (or the Factory Acts). As for the second reference - just click on it and you will immediately see why you shouldn't rely on ChatGPT.

I think it would be a good idea if you read this article Wikipedia:Large language models before you make any more ChatGPT additions to articles. Southdevonian (talk) 21:58, 13 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

^ Paz, D. G. (1981). Hurt, J. S. (ed.). "Working-Class Education as Social Control in England 1860-1918". History of Education Quarterly. 21 (4): 493–499. doi:10.2307/367929. ISSN 0018-2680. JSTOR 367929.
^ Washington, Booker T. (1913). "Industrial Education and the Public Schools". The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 49: 219–232. doi:10.1177/000271621304900123. ISSN 0002-7162. JSTOR 1011923.

[1] Paz, D. G. (1981). Hurt, J. S. (ed.). "Working-Class Education as Social Control in England 1860-1918". History of Education Quarterly. 21 (4): 493–499. doi:10.2307/367929. ISSN 0018-2680. JSTOR 367929.

[2] Washington, Booker T. (1913). "Industrial Education and the Public Schools". The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 49: 219–232. doi:10.1177/000271621304900123. ISSN 0002-7162. JSTOR 1011923.

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