# Future of General Questions in the AI age

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-of-general-questions-in-the-ai-age/1020443>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Tags:** ai\
**Created:** [July 3, 2025, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-of-general-questions-in-the-ai-age/1020443 "2025-07-03T14:05:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 3

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2025, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-of-general-questions-in-the-ai-age/1020443/3 "2025-07-03T14:21:32Z")

</div>

> [@Mijin](#):
>
> ISTM that it’s already the case that some questions in GQ could be answered well by AI. I am not criticizing anyone for starting such threads just wondered how do you guys see it going forwards?

If you don’t mind getting answers that are [incorrect, counterfactual, or fundamentally baseless.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hyperloop-pie-in-the-sky-or-is-it-time/666116/305)

> [@Mijin](#):
>
> OTOH, people tend not to ask questions that are trivially googleable, lest they get the dreaded “Let me Google that for you”. We might be close to the time where people start to say similar (as soon as someone comes up with a verbing of ChatGPT) for open-ended questions.

People post with questions in **Factual Questions** that can be easily researched with a simple internet search all the time, presumably because they don’t realize there is a simply referenced answer, or they are looking for a more nuanced or expanded explanation than can be found in Wikipedia. Asking a chatbot a question for which the questioner cannot recognize a correct answer from a erroneous or counterfactual one has the risk of incorrectly ‘verbing’ the prompt or just getting a nonsense response from a language prediction confabulation machine that is purpose designed to provide authoritative answers even if they are complete bullshit.

Stranger

---

_[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/future-of-general-questions-in-the-ai-age/1020443)._