I attended the Ambassador program talk as I could for certain easily be an iNaturalist Ambassador, but I still have looming questions and concerns surrounding the addition of GenAI to iNaturalist.
The thing I found most interesting is that a core iNaturalist’s Mission and Value in the Code of Conduct is
Emphasize that iNaturalist data should be accurate and relevant since it is used for science
We have already shown in this thread how GenAI gets ID information wrong, how it falsely attributes statements to users who did not say what it says they said, and more. Using GenAI to create ID tips will create falsehoods, and thus, goes against the supposed iNaturalist Code of Conduct.
In addition, OpenAI just released their own research which confirms our statements that these “Hallucinations” are actually a structural property inherent to these machines.
Thus, according to iNaturalist’s own stated ethics in their own Code of Conduct, as a future ambassador looking to maintain the scientific integrity of iNaturalist in alliance with their Code of Conduct, I am hereby requesting that iNaturalist immediately cease and desist all use of GenAI and do not now or ever deploy it on any of their products, programs, sites, aps, or architecture.
I look forward to your formal and publicly announced and posted reply as to the status of your GenAI project.