1w ago

How does AI-based search engines know legit sources from BS ones ?

We have all seen AI-based searches available on the web like Copilot, Perplexity, DuckAssist etc, which scour the web for information, present them in a summarized form, and also cite sources in support of the summary.

But how do they know which sources are legitimate and which are simple BS ? Do they exercise judgement while crawling, or do they have some kind of filter list around the "trustworthyness" of various web sources ?

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60 comments

Most of the time if I read the AI summary from Google it's wrong. Very few times has it actually been helpful.
- Got an example
  
  Pretty much anything tech support, it gives you options which no longer exist anymore because the solution it is suggesting is from a slightly older windows/android version and the UI changed so the option is no longer where it thinks.
  Also asking if particular wildlife in in a particular location. Tried asking it if polar bears were in a location I'm going to visit and it said yes, but a quick search through its sources confirmed that was false and the nearest Polar bears are hundreds of miles away.
  
  If an amateur mycologist picks and eats the wrong mushroom that an LLM said was fine to eat, is the LLM liable for the death legally and/or financially?
  I mean, I know better than to pick random mushrooms and eat them, but I don't really care for mushrooms - though some have some delightful effects when metabolized, lol. The only ones of THOSE I tried, I knew who grew them, and saw the "operation," and reviewed his sources before trying one.
  Call me paranoid, but I'm not blindly trusting a high school drop out to properly identify mushrooms when professionals make mistakes to the point where any mycologist will tell you, DON'T TRUST PICS OR THE INTERNET.
  It can be too difficult to tell from those sources, and I doubt the LLM and the human asking questions have the right wavelength of discussion to not produce misleading, if not entirely fabricated, results.
  
  But why not ask it for a source if this is information that has some critical piece to it. It's right far more than it's wrong and works as a great tool to speed up learning. I'm really interested in people sharing what prompts they used and the wrong answers it produced.
  
  What's the point of AI if you need to search for the source to make sure it's right everytime? Just skip a step and search for a source first thing.
  
  There's so many ways to answer this that I'm surprised it's asked in the first place. AI is not some be all end all of knowledge. It's a tool like any other.
  
  I asked if 178bpm was a healthy exercise heart rate, and it told me that 178bpm was a healthy RESTING (meaning not exercising; just sitting or laying down) heart rate. It proceeded to go on about that for two more sentences. This was a few months ago.
  
  I regularly ask it these questions and have yet to have it too far off of what I'd find from people on any forum.
  Here is me asking it today
  A heart rate of 178 BPM (beats per minute) can be healthy depending on the context:
  ✅ Healthy in Certain Situations:
  If you're exercising intensely, such as during cardio workouts, running, or high-intensity interval training (HIIT), 178 BPM can be normal and expected, especially if:
  You're younger (e.g., teens or 20s)
  You're fit and accustomed to high heart rate workouts
  General formula for max heart rate:
  220 - your age = estimated maximum heart rate So for a 25-year-old: 220 - 25 = 195 BPM max 178 BPM would be about 91% of max, which is high, but acceptable during vigorous effort.
  ⚠️ Not Healthy at Rest:
  If your heart rate is 178 BPM while resting, sitting, or sleeping, that's too high and could be a sign of:
  Tachycardia (abnormally fast heart rate)
  Anxiety or panic attack
  Dehydration
  Fever
  Heart condition or arrhythmia
  Stimulant or drug effects (e.g., caffeine, medications)
  📌 Summary:
  Situation 178 BPM
  During intense exercise ✅ Normal At rest or light activity ❌ Needs medical attention
  If you're unsure or it feels abnormal, it's always safest to consult a doctor.
  
  I wish you a very happy resting heart rate of 178 bpm.
  
  But the AI said that was not a good resting heart rate, and only many for during exercise if you’re young, which is not wrong?
  
  Because there's only one AI and all prompts are only ever generated once.
  
  No, but you were replying to someone who gave a single specific response that was not bad.
  
  I use duckduckgo as preferred search engine, while starting at my new job I used google for a bit (before setting up firefox, yes librewolf needed extra permissions and I couldn't be bothered).
  Search promopt: word highlight shortcut. Gemini suggested Ctrl+shift+H but it is Ctrl+alt+H. Every now and then I feel like I need to try AI products because I work in data domain ~~because~~ and it's always a good idea confirm whether something is as bad as you think it is.

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