RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) - City leaders in Rapid City are urging residents to double-check information before believing what they read online, after a recent AI-generated search result made false claims about a city program.
An AI-generated search result claimed Rapid City offers a program to reimburse property owners for sidewalk and curb repairs. That program does not exist in Rapid City.
Search engines picked up an AI answer from social media that blended Rapid City rules with reimbursement policies offered in Ohio and Indiana.
City officials say this is not the first time inaccurate AI-generated information has affected residents.
“We saw it have a particularly frustrating impact for our citizens when they were relying on information from Google about when their recycling would be picked up. The information that the Google AI provided was wrong,” said Shannon Truax, Public Works Administration operations manager for Rapid City.
Under city code, sidewalk upkeep falls entirely on property owners. If sidewalks are not kept clear or repaired, code enforcement can hire a crew to do the work and send the property owner the bill.
If you type in that same question now, you might see the right answer, thanks to recent headlines calling out the mistake, but officials warn AI can flip just as fast as it fixes itself.
A recent study shows around 45 percent of AI news queries produce errors. At the...
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) - City leaders in Rapid City are urging residents to double-check information before believing what they read online, after a recent AI-generated search result made false cl...