Brittanica Chatbot: A More Reliable AI?

Ever ask AI a question and get an answer from a random Reddit thread? Sick of bad answers, I tested the Encyclopedia Brittanica Chatbot.

Brittanica Chatbot uses articles from the Encyclopedia Brittanica to answer your question. These articles are written by experts in their fields.

This morning, I ran it through 3 tests…

Round #1: Teach Me About the Navy

Later today, I’m meeting with a startup that produces parts for naval ships. So I wondered, how does the navy handle repairs at sea?

Brittanica explained that sailors do many repairs themselves. A repair ship can come and do more complex maintenance.

The answer was helpful, but Brittanica didn’t cite any encyclopedia articles. I have no way of verifying Brittanica’s answer.

I’m giving this round a C.

Round #2: Learning About Knee Injuries

Half the people I know have knee problems. What’s the state of the art in fixing a bad knee?

Brittanica gave a thorough answer, digging into technologies from stem cells to gene therapy.

But again, Brittanica didn’t cite its own wonderful articles! Instead, it kicked the query to ChatGPT. I can’t verify if the response is accurate.

I’ll give this round a B.

Round #3: AI with a Green Thumb

For our last test, let’s do something fun!

My friend is turning his lawn into a carpet of wildflowers and other plants. Which plants work best?

This time, it cited several great Brittanica articles with specific recommendations. I love the periwinkle!

Brittanica’s answer was helpful. But I’d like to see specific plant recommendations right in the response, instead of making me click through.

I’ll give this answer a B+.

Wrap-Up

Overall, I’m giving Brittanica Chatbot a B-.

The concept is awesome. I‘d love to use a chatbot trained on articles written by experts.

But Brittanica Chatbot doesn’t deliver consistently. It often fails to cite Brittanica articles or any reliable source.

I’m excited to see how Brittanica Chatbot develops. With more expert-written articles and better indexing, it could become a real ChatGPT competitor.

Give Brittanica Chatbot a try and let me know what you think!