Never mind AI, people hallucinate too

Flood – 5 November 2024

Source https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/never-mind-ai-people-hallucinate-too-floodpartners-ev61f

‘Beware the helpful respondent’, one of the great qualitative researchers once advised me.

I was a little surprised. As a young moderator, I welcomed those helpful souls who would step in and rescue me from the awkward silences as I sat in front of the one-way mirror, with clients’ eyes burning into the back of my head.

Of course he was spot-on. The helpful respondent breaks the silence and pitches in with a thought. Perhaps it’s based on a recent trend they’ve seen, or something that sounds smart. Their comment gets a murmur of approval, a few nods. They’re on a roll - they start to believe it themselves.

And that’s when it happens: social contagion. A plausible narrative is born, and soon others are chiming in, building on the original point. What was once a tentative comment becomes accepted truth as the room fills with the buzz of agreement. Before long, you have a consensus—not through debate, through the infectious spread of one person’s half-formed idea. Suddenly, everyone’s on board. Everyone’s enthusiastic. And the truth? Who knows.

Why does it happen? Because some people need to fill the vacuum of silence. People want to come up with an answer. They might want to show off, appear virtuous, be in the know, provocative. You name it – mostly they start by only trying to help.

Unfortunately, this can be costly, as a few epic examples, taken from the archives, testify.

Focus groups in the early 90s enthused over what became Crystal Pepsi, a pure and healthier cola. It tapped into the emerging taste for bottled water and a growing focus on freshness and cleanliness. Sounded appealing and it fell into a gap in the market. Where, it turns out, there were few customers. The product died.

McDonald’s reportedly spent $150 million developing and marketing their Arch Deluxe burger back in 1996. Mmm – that more sophisticated taste and adult orientation would have flattered the tastebuds and egos of helpful respondents. It wasn’t on the menu for long.

And let’s not forget Clairol’s Touch of Yogurt Shampoo. No doubt helpful respondents saw the merit of this back-to-nature ingredient. In-market the lesson was learned - yogurt is much more appealing in the fridge than the bathroom. (You might enjoy checking out the commercial here.)

As the research industry starts to get to grips with AI and how we can use it, many focus on the problem of it, ‘hallucinating’ – creating outputs that sound credible but are actually a figment of its imagination. This is a real problem and one that any implementation must tackle.

But it’s worth bearing in mind that hallucination is not the preserve of artificial minds. People have been doing it for years.