There's no earthly way of knowing which direction we are going

# There’s No Earthly Way of Knowing Which Direction We Are Going… Source: [https://kottke.org/26/05/theres-no-earthly-way-of-knowing-which-direction-we-are-going](https://kottke.org/26/05/theres-no-earthly-way-of-knowing-which-direction-we-are-going) postedMay 19 @ 05:22 PMby[Jason Kottke](http://www.kottke.org/)·gift link [Book on Truth in the Age of A\.I\. Contains Quotes Made Up by A\.I\.](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/19/business/media/future-of-truth-ai-quotes.html?unlocked_article_code=1.jlA.VxY4.VHmEk0pr1YpR): > The author of a nonfiction book about the effects of artificial intelligence on truth acknowledged on Monday that he had included numerous made\-up or misattributed quotes concocted by A\.I\. The author, Steven Rosenbaum, whose book “The Future of Truth” was released this month to great fanfare, incorporated more than a half\-dozen misattributed or fake quotes in sections of the book reviewed by The New York Times\. The Times asked Mr\. Rosenbaum about the quotes on Sunday and Monday\. On Monday night, Mr\. Rosenbaum acknowledged in a statement that the book had “a handful of improperly attributed or synthetic quotes” and said that he had started his own investigation\. [Nobel Laureate Olga Tokarczuk Apparently Used AI to Write Her Latest Novel](https://lithub.com/nobel-laureate-olga-tokarczuk-apparently-used-ai-to-write-her-latest-novel/): > In a[recent interview](https://mycompanypolska.pl/artykul/olga-tokarczuk-zapowiada-ostatnia-powiesc-w-karierze-pisanie-dlugich-opowiesci-jest-dzis-ekonomicznie-nieoplacalne/20717)\(conducted and published in Polish\), Nobel Prize\-winner Olga Tokarczuk admitted to using AI in her creative process\. The writer[Maks Sipowicz](https://philosophyafterdark.com/), who drew attention to the interview on[Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/callmesipo.bsky.social/post/3mm667xkafk2l), translated a few of salient bits: “When writing my latest novel… I asked this advanced model what kind of songs my protagonists would be listening to at a dance, a few dozen years ago, and AI gave me a few titles,” Tokarczuk told the interviewer\. “Often I just ask the machine, ‘darling, how could we develop this beautifully?’ Even though I know about hallucinations and many factual errors in the algorithms in terms of economics and hard data, I have to add that in literary fiction this technology is an advantage of unbelievable proportion\.” [Google Search As You Know It Is Over](https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/19/google-search-as-you-know-it-is-over/): > At its Google I/O conference on Tuesday, Google unveiled an AI\-powered overhaul of Search centered around a reimagined “intelligent search box” — what the company describes as the biggest change to this entry point to the web since the search box debuted more than 25 years ago\. Instead of returning a simple list of links, Google Search will drop users into AI\-powered interactive experiences at times\. Google is also introducing tools that can dispatch “information agents” to gather information on a user’s behalf, along with tools that let users build personalized mini apps tailored to their needs\. The resulting experience will no longer look much like how people envision Google Search, which has long been defined by ranked links to websites that have the information you need\. [Gemini Is in Danger of Going Full Copilot](https://www.theverge.com/tech/931752/google-io-2026-gemini-icon-docs-workspace): > Gemini has a creep problem\. A few years ago, that little sparkle icon started showing up in all of our Google apps\. Gemini in your inbox\! Gemini in your Google Drive\! It was slow at first, and easy enough to tune out, but something has changed in the past few months\. Gemini is creeping\. It’s showing up in all kinds of places at a relentless pace, and personally, it’s starting to really cheese me off\. An actual screenshot from Google just now \(a la[Charlie Jane Anders](https://bsky.app/profile/charliejane.bsky.social/post/3mma5cngrmc2j)\):  Commencement speakers at recent graduations[get booed for casting AI in a positive light](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-i4hgyJ01ZQ): And that’s just today\. 😰 - [artificial intelligence](https://kottke.org/tag/artificial%20intelligence) - [commencement speeches](https://kottke.org/tag/commencement%20speeches) - [Google](https://kottke.org/tag/Google) - [Olga Tokarczuk](https://kottke.org/tag/Olga%20Tokarczuk) - [Steven Rosenbaum](https://kottke.org/tag/Steven%20Rosenbaum) - [video](https://kottke.org/tag/video)