Interesting article Sally, thanks for posting it.
I wonder whether AI will ever be able to generate truly new information based on analytic thinking, which requires combining ideas in new ways. Right now it appears it can only accumulate and combine existing knowledge in previously used connections or connotations?
That certainly could be powerful and useful in some ways. Finding a list of known pests as the author did was useful for him.
I thought standard Google might be able to do that but a search for "Hemerocallis pests and diseases list" produced only 7 and omitted some of the more serious ones.
The usual links were a hodgepodge that varied considerably in accuracy and completeness and even relevance.
AI would have a long way to go to sort out all that. And I don't know how it would judge the validity or accuracy. Some of the ".edu" sites had both problems, which is actually not uncommon in articles written by Extension personnel about Hemerocallis and many other subjects such as fertilizers, unfortunately. Ones written by "Master Gardeners" are often overconfident, in my experience. I will usually trust sources like these if they are writing about plants they have actually grown and their personal experience with them. If the source is repeating something that's secondhand it might be some of that "common knowledge" that is actually misinformed.
The web is a terrific resource for getting started on researching a subject. But it's necessary to dig deeper and broader into as much primary source material as can be found. Very often that means using a library! I hope we always support those. We need people with Sally's professional expertise.
Pat
