Leap Year Ask
This is the only day we can write this post. Well, until 2028 when there's another Leap Day.
Leap Day is upon us. Traditionally, a day when women can propose to their male partner, yet the Greeks see this date as being bad luck for the rest of the year.
Today gave us another excuse to ask an AI assistant what historical events took place on this day and the results were quite surprising.
Before we reveal all, we know this makes us sound down on AI. But we're really not. We think, overall, AI and all the technologies under its umbrella will have a dramatic impact on our daily lives.
We are looking forward to the advancements in health tech especially; this is where we believe even greater strides will be made. Over in the travel and tourism sector, AI is making its presence felt there too as our infographic details.
AI isn't perfect. Yet.
What we feel about AI is that despite the hype and buzz, there's something not there yet.
Time and time again, we've had disappointing experiences. We once asked Perplexity what was Sir Winston Churchill's favourite dessert and the result came back saying it was a Cotswolds coconut cake along with eight citations. Every single citation turned out to be a 404.
Rather like ordering a cheese toastie and finding there isn't any cheese.
Testing Times
We were quite taken aback by how badly AI got it wrong with a test connected to 29 February 2024 or, as it's better known, Leap Day. This occurs every four years.
We asked an AI assistant:
What historical events have taken place on Leap Days? (These were the exact answers. We only changed the formatting for easier reading)
Answers:
Birth of William Shakespeare (1564)
Considered one of the greatest playwrights in English literature, Shakespeare entered the world on a Leap Day.
First Flight Across the Atlantic Ocean (1919)
Charles Lindbergh made the first solo flight from New York City to Paris on a Leap Day, setting a record for air travel at the time.
Women Gained Right To Vote in Finland (1906)
Finnish women were granted suffrage on a Leap Day, making them the first European nation to allow female voting rights.
World War II Ended (1945)
Germany surrendered on a Leap Day, officially ending World War II in Europe.
They are all wrong. Only Shakespeare's year of birth was correct.
Infographic Time!
We celebrated this day with an infographic with an interesting fact about historians pointing to Julius Caesar's reign as a time when the Leap Day first appeared.
If you liked reading this, see our post on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of AI in AI SWOT, the bias of AI in AI bias, and how AI copilots might just possibly be the future of PR.
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