About how well GPT-5 avoids hallucinating facts about little-known people.
Has this happened?
Yes 42 (37%)Not sure 21 (18%)No 52 (45%)
Votes cast 1–2 October 2026: 100,590 votes from 9,694 people.
Hacker News has set AI a lot of challenges over the years. Which ones has it met?
About how well GPT-5 avoids hallucinating facts about little-known people.
Votes cast 1–2 October 2026: 100,590 votes from 9,694 people.
I have a canonical test for chatbots -- I ask them who I am. I'm sufficiently unknown in modern times that it's a fair test. Just ask, "Who is Paul Lutus?"
ChatGPT 5's reply is mostly made up -- about 80% is pure invention. I'm described as having written books and articles whose titles I don't even recognize, or having accomplished things at odds with what was once called reality.
But things are slowly improving. In past ChatGPT versions I was described as having been dead for a decade.
I'm waiting for the day when, instead of hallucinating, a chatbot will reply, "I have no idea."
I propose a new technical Litmus test -- chatbots should be judged based on what they won't say.