Hallucinations, or why the machine sometimes just makes things up
The single most important thing to know about these programs is that they sometimes answer with complete confidence and complete invention at the same time. The industry word is hallucination, and the word is accurate. The program is not lying, because lying requires knowing the truth. It is predicting, word by word, the most plausible continuation of your question, and sometimes a plausible continuation is not a true one. Ask it for a biography of a moderately famous person and it may attach the wrong spouse or the wrong award. Ask it for a source and occasionally it will produce a book that does not exist, with a real sounding title and a real sounding author. This is not a defect you were unlucky to hit. It is how the technology works at its core. The defenses are old habits dressed in new clothes. For facts that matter, ask for the source and then check that the source is real, the same way you would double check a tip from a chatty neighbor. Ask the same question of a second program and see if the answers agree. And treat the machine's confidence as theater. It sounds exactly the same when it is right and when it is wrong, which takes some getting used to, because people do not. In our classes we practice this on purpose. Everyone asks for a citation, checks it, and finds the seam. Better to find the seam in a classroom than in a letter to the insurance company.
Want the hands-on version? Come try it at a free class →
AI, in plain English three small answers, no jargon
AI already in your pocket
Your phone suggests replies, groups photos, sharpens shots, and predicts your next turn. Most 'new' AI is an upgrade to assistants you already use every day.
Open vs. closed AI
Some AI is built by companies and locked behind their apps; some is open for anyone to run and inspect. Each side trades something: polish and safety versus freedom and transparency.
AI safety in one breath
A whole research field works on keeping AI accurate, fair, and controllable. It moves slower than the hype and matters more than skeptics admit.
9 captures 14 Jul 2003 - 18 Feb 2009 Jan FEB Mar 18 2008 2009 2010 success fail About this capture TIMESTAMPS The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20090218093621/http://www.hydeparklibrary.org:80/about.html About the Hyde Park Free Library About the Hyde Park Free Library HYDE PARK FREE LIBRARY THE HYDE PARK FREE LIBRARY SERVING HYDE PARK SINCE 1927 The Town of Hyde Park has in its midst a community resource that is free to the residents. It is free to the students, free to the seniors, free to families, free to the teens, free to pre-schoolers and free even to businesses. It is the Hyde Park Free Library which is supported by the taxpayers and a library. Our library is a place where people without a home computer can come and make use of ours. A library card is your ticket to hours of education, enjoyment or research - all available by walking through the door. In case you have not visited the library recently, you will notice some basic changes in the way our library does its business.
From the library's own site, source.
Visit or contact
- Address: 2 Main Street, Hyde Park, NY 12538
- Phone: 845-229-7791
- Website and hours: hydeparklibrary.org/
- System: Mid-Hudson Library System
Hours change with the season, so we link the library's own site instead of copying a schedule that could go stale.
Get an AI class here
Path one: ask the library directly. Patron requests carry real weight with program coordinators, and their website and phone number are linked above.
Path two: tell us you want a class at Hyde Park Library and we will count you in when we schedule one there.
What you’ll find there
- Notary services
- Seed library
- Printing, copying, scanning
- Tax help
- E-books, audiobooks (Libby/OverDrive)
- Language learning apps
- Kids and family programs
Collected from the library’s own website. Availability changes — confirm details on their site.
Two free AI classes for Hyde Park Library
Live, beginner-friendly, 90 minutes each. Your first two classes cost $0, including the presenter fee — bring us in, see how your community responds, then decide.
For library staff
Reply “send dates” to our email and we’ll send available times within a day. Or start here:
Email us for available dates →
No presenter fee. No contract. You provide the room, chairs and wifi — we bring everything else.
How booking works · browse all six class topics (no email needed)
I’m a patron of this library
Want a class here? Leave your email and we’ll tell you if one gets scheduled at Hyde Park Library — and pass the count to their program coordinator.
One email only when scheduling news exists. Or call the library and say you’d attend — patron requests carry real weight.
Heard about us from a neighbor? Forward this page to whoever books programs at your library.
Is this a sales pitch to our patrons?
No. Nothing is sold or pitched in the room, and patrons never pay to attend. Take-home materials are free.
What’s the catch on “two free classes”?
None, and here is the model: your first two classes cost you nothing, we collect attendance and feedback, and the next library books us because yours proved it works. Repeat classes after that are a modest honorarium sized to your budget.
What do we need to provide?
A room, chairs, and wifi. We bring the projector, adapters, a backup hotspot, printed handouts — every attendee leaves with a printed AI cheat sheet.
Library AI Courses teaches free, live, 90 minute AI classes at public libraries across the region. A listing here is a directory entry, not an endorsement by the library. Classes get scheduled when a library books one or enough patrons ask. Library staff: how booking works →