Bots, blogs and bees

The information superhighway can lead you to some pretty dodgy information unless you're careful.

In the 'good old days' a helpful blogger would craft an article on swarm control, or queen rearing or Varroa management, re-read it a few times, correct the typos, make some final tweaks and then press the big red post button to share it with the audience.

It took time, it required an understanding of the topic and it involved some sanity checking for internal inconsistencies and contradictions.

But, most of all, it took time and understanding.

These days, you just need to ask ChatGPT (OpenAI) to produce a certain number of words on the topic of choice and - voilà! - there it is, ready to be topped and tailed with a title and page footer before publishing.

Total time taken, a fraction of a second.

Total thought involved, not a lot.

And, increasingly, you'll find articles like these online.

You can usually identify them by eye. Look out for: