RESEARCHERS SAY AN AI-POWERED TRANSCRIPTION TOOL USED IN HOSPITALS INVENTS THINGS NO ONE EVER SAID
AppleMagazine|November 01, 2024
Tech behemoth OpenAI has touted its artificial intelligence-powered transcription tool Whisper as having near “human level robustness and accuracy.”
RESEARCHERS SAY AN AI-POWERED TRANSCRIPTION TOOL USED IN HOSPITALS INVENTS THINGS NO ONE EVER SAID

But Whisper has a major flaw: It is prone to making up chunks of text or even entire sentences, according to interviews with more than a dozen software engineers, developers and academic researchers. Those experts said some of the invented text — known in the industry as hallucinations — can include racial commentary, violent rhetoric and even imagined medical treatments.

Experts said that such fabrications are problematic because Whisper is being used in a slew of industries worldwide to translate and transcribe interviews, generate text in popular consumer technologies and create subtitles for videos.

More concerning, they said, is a rush by medical centers to utilize Whisper-based tools to transcribe patients’ consultations with doctors, despite OpenAI’ s warnings that the tool should not be used in “high-risk domains.”

The full extent of the problem is difficult to discern, but researchers and engineers said they frequently have come across Whisper’s hallucinations in their work. A University of Michigan researcher conducting a study of public meetings, for example, said he found hallucinations in eight out of every 10 audio transcriptions he inspected, before he started trying to improve the model.

A machine learning engineer said he initially discovered hallucinations in about half of the over 100 hours of Whisper transcriptions he analyzed. A third developer said he found hallucinations in nearly every one of the 26,000 transcripts he created with Whisper.

The problems persist even in well-recorded, short audio samples. A recent study by computer scientists uncovered 187 hallucinations in more than 13,000 clear audio snippets they examined.

That trend would lead to tens of thousands of faulty transcriptions over millions of recordings, researchers said.

This story is from the November 01, 2024 edition of AppleMagazine.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the November 01, 2024 edition of AppleMagazine.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM APPLEMAGAZINEView All
OFFSHORE WIND INDUSTRY SAYS 'MISINFORMATION' FROM FOES IS A STRONG HEADWIND IT MUST FIGHT
AppleMagazine

OFFSHORE WIND INDUSTRY SAYS 'MISINFORMATION' FROM FOES IS A STRONG HEADWIND IT MUST FIGHT

The U.S offshore wind energy industry says it needs to fight back against disinformation being spread by opponents of wind farms.

time-read
3 mins  |
November 01, 2024
HOW TO PREPARE YOUR BODY AND MIND FOR THE END OF DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME
AppleMagazine

HOW TO PREPARE YOUR BODY AND MIND FOR THE END OF DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME

The good news: You will get a glorious extra hour of sleep. The bad: It’ll be dark as a pocket by late afternoon for the next few months in the U.S.

time-read
2 mins  |
November 01, 2024
HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM SCAMMERS OFFERING FAKE JOBS
AppleMagazine

HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM SCAMMERS OFFERING FAKE JOBS

Between finding openings, sending out your resume and interviewing, looking for a job is tough. Now a growing trend of scammers impersonating recruiters is making it even harder.

time-read
4 mins  |
November 01, 2024
IN 'IBELIN' AND 'GRAND THEFT HAMLET,' VIDEO GAME REALMS DRAW FILMMAKERS WITH VIRTUAL CAMERAS
AppleMagazine

IN 'IBELIN' AND 'GRAND THEFT HAMLET,' VIDEO GAME REALMS DRAW FILMMAKERS WITH VIRTUAL CAMERAS

Film productions often wrestle with shifts in the weather, the threat of the crew going into overtime or the fading of a day’s light. Less common are concerns over the cast slipping off the top of a blimp.

time-read
5 mins  |
November 01, 2024
WORLD SERIES GAME 3 AVERAGES 13.64 MILLION.BEATS 'MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL'
AppleMagazine

WORLD SERIES GAME 3 AVERAGES 13.64 MILLION.BEATS 'MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL'

The World Series beat “Monday Night Football” in the battle for television viewers.

time-read
1 min  |
November 01, 2024
RESEARCHERS SAY AN AI-POWERED TRANSCRIPTION TOOL USED IN HOSPITALS INVENTS THINGS NO ONE EVER SAID
AppleMagazine

RESEARCHERS SAY AN AI-POWERED TRANSCRIPTION TOOL USED IN HOSPITALS INVENTS THINGS NO ONE EVER SAID

Tech behemoth OpenAI has touted its artificial intelligence-powered transcription tool Whisper as having near “human level robustness and accuracy.”

time-read
5 mins  |
November 01, 2024
GOOGLE'S MONEYMAKING MACHINE STILL PUMPING OUT MASSIVE PROFITS DESPITE MULTIPLE THREATS
AppleMagazine

GOOGLE'S MONEYMAKING MACHINE STILL PUMPING OUT MASSIVE PROFITS DESPITE MULTIPLE THREATS

Google is still thriving while the company navigates through a pivotal shift to artificial intelligence and battles regulators trying to topple its internet empire.

time-read
2 mins  |
November 01, 2024
FITNESS APP STRAVA GIVES AWAY LOCATION OF BIDEN. TRUMP AND OTHER LEADERS, FRENCH NEWSPAPER SAYS
AppleMagazine

FITNESS APP STRAVA GIVES AWAY LOCATION OF BIDEN. TRUMP AND OTHER LEADERS, FRENCH NEWSPAPER SAYS

An investigation by French newspaper Le Monde found that the highly confidential movements of U.S. President Joe Biden, presidential rivals Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, and other world leaders can be easily tracked online through a fitness app that their bodyguards use.

time-read
3 mins  |
November 01, 2024
CALIFORNIA STUDENTS WANT CAREERS IN AI. HERE'S HOW COLLEGES ARE MEETING THAT DEMAND
AppleMagazine

CALIFORNIA STUDENTS WANT CAREERS IN AI. HERE'S HOW COLLEGES ARE MEETING THAT DEMAND

Nathan Lim, a student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, recently spent the summer working on an artificial intelligence tool to help students evaluate their senior project ideas for ethical and social justice implications.

time-read
8 mins  |
November 01, 2024
THE EU IS IMPOSING DUTIES ON ELECTRIC VEHICLES FROM CHINA AFTER TRADE TALKS FAIL
AppleMagazine

THE EU IS IMPOSING DUTIES ON ELECTRIC VEHICLES FROM CHINA AFTER TRADE TALKS FAIL

The European Union is imposing duties on imports of electric vehicles from China starting Wednesday after talks between Brussels and Beijing failed to find an amicable solution to their trade dispute.

time-read
2 mins  |
November 01, 2024