--- title: "Google’s Bard and Bing AI Already Citing Each Other in Neural Hall of Mirrors" description: "Microsoft's Bing Chat just cited misinformation generated by Google's Bard chatbot, just one day after Bard was released. Oof." date: "2023-03-24" modified: "2023-03-24" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/bard-bing-neural-hall-of-mirrors" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Google" tags: - "ai" - "chatbots" - "internet" - "the digest" --- # Google’s Bard and Bing AI Already Citing Each Other in Neural Hall of Mirrors ![Microsoft's Bing Chat just cited misinformation generated by Google's Bard chatbot, just one day after Bard was released. Oof.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Cursed Ping Pong Here's a nightmare scenario for our digital futures: the internet becomes so laden with [AI-generated misinformation]() that its nearly unusable, in part because chatbots and other AI systems keep volleying hallucinated, mangled, or otherwise false or misconstrued information back at one another until our entire information landscape is shattered into tiny, blurry pieces and nothing is real anymore. We're not there quite yet. But we *did* just get a glimpse of what that might look like. Yesterday, [*The Verge* had the unfortunate duty of reporting that](), when asking Microsoft's chatty Bing AI a simple query, it responded by citing misinformation generated by Google's freshly-released Bard chatbot. And mind you, this all happened just one day after Bard's release. And away we go! ## Opposite Day The digital pathway that Bing took to get to its wrong answer was dizzying — not to mention a perfect illustration of how poor the media literacy of these bots can be. As explained by the *Verge*, when asked yesterday if Google's Bard had already been shut down, Bing told one user that yes, it had, "citing as evidence a [news article]() that discusses a [tweet]() in which a user asked Bard *when* it would be shut down and Bard said it already had, itself citing a *[comment]()* on *Hacker News* in which someone *joked* about this happening, and someone else used ChatGPT to write fake news coverage about the event." Oh, and that first news article even called Bard's original mishap an "obvious mistake." Even so, Bing repeated its claims. ## Media Literacy It's true that humans aren't always top-notch when it comes to media literacy. We make mistakes, and to the credit of Microsoft, OpenAI, and Google, all of these companies have been honest about the fact that their products will make mistakes, too. But that said, humans generally aren't built by Big Tech and marketed as information-gathering and synthesizing search assistants. No matter how many disclaimers these companies provide, a lot of people are sure to take what AI chatbots say at face value. In any case, be wary. Information, after all, is still the internet's greatest — or at the very least, its most necessary — currency. And for all their impressive qualities, it's important to remember that providing accurate info is still the thing that these AI systems are worst at. **READ MORE:** [*Google and Microsoft’s chatbots are already citing one another in a misinformation shitshow*]() \[*The Verge*\] **More on AI:** [*Researchers Find Gpt-4 Is Significantly Less Accurate than GPT-3*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()