AI Generated Information
With the growing proliferation of AI generated content and chat bots, it’s reasonable to wonder what role AI might play in researching and editing structures data for TNMCorps, or if it should play a role at all. Bottom line: it can be used to aid in research but should NEVER be used as a primary authoritative source!
It’s common now to see an AI generated summary in response to a general internet inquiry at the top of your browser’s search results page. Microsoft uses Copilot and Google uses Gemini, for example. These AI summaries are temptingly easy to reference since they save users the time and effort of having to click through various links to find and synthesize information about a given topic.
On the surface this might also seem like a quick and efficient way to research structures for TNMCorps. But if you’ve been with us for any amount of time, you know what we’re about to say ... “Not so fast!” While AI generated results can serve as a useful jumping off point, you should ALWAYS engage in additional research to track down an official authoritative source for the structure you are editing.
AI summaries automatically generated during a web search should not be used as an authoritative source on which to base any TNMCorps data entries because they crawl the web to collect, synthesize, and then display any information (both correct and incorrect) associated with the search term(s).
For example, a volunteer had created a point to represent a Mayo Clinic location at 2257 Commerce Drive Northwest in Rochester, Minnesota. This building is labeled “Mayo Clinic” in Google Maps™, which is likely why they’d created that point here. However, had they done additional research and consulted an authoritative source, they would have learned that this is actually the location of a Sleep Number store, not a Mayo Clinic, and that there is no clinic located at that address listed in the official Mayo Clinic Campus Maps brochure. This example also serves as a good reminder to never take information directly from Google Maps™!
Another volunteer who was peer reviewing this point reached out to confirm if it should be deleted, because the only source of information they could find linking a Mayo Clinic to that address was an AI summary. They were rightfully wary of trusting this information since it could not be authoritatively confirmed.
Since we confirmed via the official Sleep Number website that this is one of their store locations, and there is no Mayo Clinic site associated with that address listed on the official Mayo Clinic website, then it’s clear that the information presented in the Google AI Overview was incorrect and that this point should be deleted. Our assumption is that because someone had labeled that Sleep Number store as a Mayo Clinic on Google Maps™ and it was associated with that particular address, the AI search was able to scrape that bit of information and include it in the summary.
So, can you use AI to assist in your structure data research? Sure, but use it with an abundance of caution. Just like an aggregate website, it can be a useful jumping off point for further research. It can also provide helpful supplemental information. But it should not be used as a primary authoritative source, and it should definitely not be the only source you consult when updating existing data or creating new data in the TNMCorps map editor. As evidenced by the example above, information collected and presented in an AI summary might be incorrect and should always be authoritatively verified.
If you’re ever unsure about a source, feel free to reach out to us at nationalmapcorps@usgs.gov or pop a question up on our Q&A page!
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