The Inaccuracies of AI Websites
Over the past few years, there has been a proliferation of websites generated by artificial intelligence (AI) covering nearly every subject area, including plants. While these sites can be useful, they are also frequently and dramatically inaccurate. We have used AI-powered sites to correct spelling and grammatical errors in our writing or occasionally to reword a webpage section (that we have written) before making the webpage public. We have also used AI sites like Grokipedia to discover if we might have missed some important information or an unknown and reliable reference source. However, this website IS NOT AI-GENERATED, and all the information within it has been checked, rechecked, and checked again to make CERTAIN it is based on: (1) our own observations and experiences, (2) the observations and experiences of people we know and trust, or (3) trusted print or digital literature!
It is surprising and alarming how wrong plant websites generated by AI can be and how this misinformation quickly proliferates throughout the World Wide Web. Therefore, you should be extremely cautious in believing AND SHARING information from these AI sites. While there are countless examples of AI-generated misinformation, here is just one example.
easyscape on Mrysine lessertiana:
"The leaves were historically used for their psychoactive properties, though this is not a recommended use. Care should be taken to ensure that this tree is not planted near structures."
Both of these sentences are false. There is no credible documentation that kōlea lau nui was "historically used for their psychoactive properties." Further, kōlea lau nui, a slow-growing tree, is no threat to "structures," provided you are even lucky enough to keep it alive in a landscape.
Frequently, the errors made by AI are quite obvious. However, other times the misinformation is subtle and easily believable. Therefore, it's imperative you check the reference(s) cited for AI-generated statements-of-fact and make sure they are respected and trusted sources. Of course, it goes without saying (but we will state it anyway): any AI-generated website providing information on native Hawaiian plants without references should not be trusted to be accurate. Within this website we have tried to always cite reliable print and digital references for any information we could not personally verify by observation or experience, as well as sometimes providing references to support those personal observations and experiences. These references are alphabetically listed on the References page. Whenever possible, we have provided a link if the reference is available free online to make it easier for you to verify our statements. We encourage you to explore these links to learn additional information about the plants we have written about. Unfortunately, not all our references are available online or are free to access online, and for this we apologize. Having been native Hawaiian plant enthusiasts for decades, we have many of these non-digitized or copyrighted books on our bookshelves, making it easy for us to reference them. We can only ask that you either trust us regarding these less-accessible sources or, better yet, you spend some cash and buy one or more of these books for your own bookshelf (or purchase an often-cheaper digital copy). Many provide an informational and entertaining looks into the past!