The Risks of Botshit

Botshit — made-up, inaccurate, and untruthful chatbot content that humans uncritically use for tasks — can pose major risks to your business in the form of reputational damage, incorrect decisions, legal liability, economic losses, and even human safety. Yet, it’s unlikely that chatbots are going away. How can you manage these risks while taking advantage of the benefits of promising new tools? The authors suggest asking two key questions based on their research: How important is chatbot response veracity for a task? And how difficult is it to verify the veracity of the chatbot response? Based on your responses to these questions, you can better identify the risks associated with a given task — and successfully mitigate them.