Anthony Barnett’s

Notes On Now

The AI Reveals Itself

I used the much recommended Chinese Large Language Model Kimi K2 to search for prime ministers talking about a written constitution. It told me that in 2008 “Gordon Brown said ‘I personally believe that the time has come for us to do what many other democracies have done and write down the rules governing our political system’”.

Surprised, I challenged this. Kimi K2 replied: “Regarding the Brown quote, I need to be careful here. I cannot locate a verified source for that specific wording, and I may have conflated or misremembered statements.”

As it registered that I already knew something, it added: “Do you have a source for Brown’s position on this? I want to be accurate rather than repeat potentially fabricated quotes.”

To which I replied: “Who fabricated the Brown quote that you gave?”