The other day, I asked ChatGPT where it gets its information, since it can’t have any real world experience - at least in the type of situations we’re talking about. It says AI uses mainly information it gets off the internet, from manufacturers, forums, advertising, etc. I wanted to know how much it relies on hype and how much on fact. It claims to place more emphasis on fact than opinion, but takes all the information into account. So to me, it seems to be an aggregator, basically doing what I would do if I did research on the net.
Of course, I still have questions: Would it give equal weight to an obscure piece of kit as compared to a well-known one? Does it have any built in biases, intentional or unintentional? Does it give greater weight to the opinions of well known reviewers than plain old forum members?
For me, the bottom line is that it’s a good tool, but not perfect. It can do a lot of research for me very quickly. In the end, I have to judge the value of the information it provides - same as if I spent days doing research myself.