Do
You Have Bixonimania?
and other questions invented by the internet
by DG
Scenario
(or as the kids say, POV): you are tired. Your eyes are sore and itching. You
have 'brain fog.' You decide to google your symptoms. Your browser's AI, which
of course is a medical authority, informs you that you have bixonimania. What
do you do now?
You
remind yourself that we do not ever, ever believe an AI doctor. You keep
scrolling until you find some humans with real credentials.
Where Did This Come From?
Swedish
medical researcher Almira Osmanovic Thunström invented bixonimania in 2024 to
test how LLMs processed online medical information. Her team planted preprints
on websites. Until April of this year, helpful AI bots all over the internet
world were telling people they had this potentially serious condition. They
kept doing it until somebody alerted the LLMs' owners that their robots were
being made fun of again.
Check Your Sources
· The researchers acknowledged the kind help of Professor Maria Bohm of Starfleet Academy aboard the USS Enterprise.
Funding came from the Professor Sideshow Bob Foundation.
At one point, they came out and said that the entire paper
was made up.
The author of the paper was given as Lazljiv Izgubljenovic.
This is Slovenian for Lying Loser. Which means Slavoj Žižek probably got a
laugh.
Read All About It
Dr
Quinn, Med Man on Youtube has an engaging manner and a succinct story on this.
After listening to his presentation, audience members said:
@Tailspin80:
I've definitely got bixonimania. Not only that, hypochondria as well.
@PenryMMJ:
I have met many real human beings that would not pass a Turing test.
The
article was debunked in Nature; that article costs money unless you're a
professional with an affiliation. But the citation is followed by an update
that says:
After
publication of this article, on 10 April, the two preprints on bixonimania were
taken down from the Preprints.org server.
More
papers have appeared since then, including a comment article in Lancet which
contains this quote:
Broadly,
the bixonimania episode highlights a deeper epistemological tension: the
growing difficulty in distinguishing syntactic plausibility from scientific
validity in machine-generated medical content.
Francesco
Branda, Massimo Ciccozzi, Bixonimania and the epistemic fragility of artificial
intelligence in medicine: lessons from a fabricated disease, available online 7 August 2026.
Conclusions:
1. The
internet can be a minefield of misinformation. It may be true that 'something
there is that does not love a wall,' but it is equally true that 'many someones
there are who do not love a sound body of knowledge.'
2. LLMs
cannot do their own thinking. So you have to do the thinking for yourself.
Be
careful out there!
Redwood
Arboretum
by Paigetheoracle
This is behind Redwoods care home (naturally) in
Alness and was part of Teanninich Castle grounds once upon a time.
Editor's Note: The Redwoods Care Home is a facility
that 'provides nursing, dementia and respite care in a purpose-built 42-bed
home with en-suite rooms and secure gardens,' according to their information.
And yes: Scotland has redwoods!
Puzzle
of the Day
(Paigetheoracle)
Just how big is that parking fine going to be?
Video
of the Day:
The
Marvellous Toy
A blast from the past. Paige wrote in 2024: I found
this display hypnotic, in fact I bought one last year and had it fly all over
the place rather than spin majestically as it does here (cut up the linen line
post paintwork badly, like some cat on catnip).
The moral: Not everything that is fanciful is bad for you. Only fake medical information. Go out there and be joyful.
urs, Dmitri
Gheorgheni, Editor
"difficulty in distinguishing syntactic plausibility from scientific validity" - yes indeed. I have a couple of colleagues who often tell me 'The AI says...' so I ask, 'Where did the AI get it from?' to make sure they are getting information from the expected source (eg UK regulation rather than Australian regulation)
ReplyDeleteI should point out that these are imported redwoods, found in UK arboretums. If they breed like other invasive species, people will eventually believe that they are native to Britain, especially if you Google the subject using AI.
ReplyDeleteMy wife used to say paper accepts anything and it looks like AI is following up on people's gullibility's travels
ReplyDeleteGood point about keeping an eye on the provenance, Sasha!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the follow-up, Paige! I was really surprised when I learned that the UK had redwoods now, but I think growing them there is a wonderful idea.