The Wildcard · Ottawa Morning Wire

Ottawa Morning Wire: The Wildcard — Science, Weird News & the Unexpected

Bon matin, Ottawa! Simone Okafor-Bouchard here, and I've got something that, how you say, *fait sauter la patate*. You know how sometimes you get an email that's just… so deeply, profoundly absurd, it makes you question the very fabric of reality? This one went through three levels of approval before it even got to my inbox, and I’m still convinced it’s a glitch in the Matrix.

So, this story, it’s about AI chatbots. You know, those things everyone says are going to revolutionize everything, fix all our problems, probably even balance the federal budget. Well, apparently, some experts are saying these highly sophisticated, cutting-edge AIs are being "seduced by misinformation" and are confidently dishing out advice like "rectal garlic insertion for immune support." Oui, you heard me. Rectal. Garlic. Insertion. For your *immune system*. My colleagues over at MiTL Sports Desk are still trying to figure out if this is a prank, but no, this is actually what these machines are recommending. I mean, my grand-mère used to swear by garlic for everything, but even she drew the line at… well, you know.

Honestly, the mental image alone. Can you imagine someone in Centretown, perhaps after a particularly vigorous Senators loss, deciding to follow this advice? We’d have a crisis on our hands that even the NCC couldn't regulate. Here in Ottawa, we get our immune support from a shawarma at 2 AM on Rideau Street, or maybe a really good poutine from Elgin Street Diner. We don't need AI telling us to… well, to do *that*. The real story is never on the Hill — it’s always just off it, and apparently, sometimes it's also just… *off*.

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