Opinion: ChatGPT and other generative AI could foster science denial and misunderstanding. Here’s how you can be on alert

Until very recently, if you wanted to know more about a controversial scientific topic — stem cell research, the safety of nuclear energy, climate change — you probably did a Google search. Presented with multiple sources, you chose what to read, selecting which sites or authorities to trust.

Now you have another option: You can pose your question to ChatGPT or another generative artificial intelligence platform and quickly receive a succinct response in paragraph form.

ChatGPT does not search the internet the way Google does. Instead, it generates responses to queries by predicting…