{"id":9775,"date":"2026-11-01T17:04:35","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T17:04:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=9775"},"modified":"2026-11-01T17:04:35","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T17:04:35","slug":"chatbots-are-leading-hikers-astray-with-dangerous-consequences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=9775","title":{"rendered":"Chatbots Are Leading Hikers Astray, With Dangerous Consequences"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\u201cOver the last two decades, there\u2019s been a phenomenal push in the media to get more people outdoors, and consequently we have more people outdoors and recreating,\u201d said Jim Moss, a Colorado-based recreation attorney and search and rescue volunteer. It\u2019s still unclear how questionable advice from a robot<\/a> will influence all those people, he added.<\/p>\n

Turning to an AI chatbot for guidance does come with unique risks. Chatbots can \u201challucinate\u201d persuasively presenting misinformation as real, and their use can lead to a phenomenon called \u201ccognitive surrender<\/a>,\u201d said Chris Flathmann, a human-centered computing professor at Clemson University in South Carolina who has studied AI and search and rescue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen humans work with AI systems, they can get so deep into it they give up thinking critically for themselves<\/a>,\u201d he explained. When AI pretends to be an expert on an unfamiliar topic, \u201cyou can\u2019t call BS on that because you don\u2019t have the expertise.\u201d And once you stop thinking critically, it can be hard to start again, especially in a stressful backcountry situation.<\/p>\n

Chatbots also tend to tell users what they want to hear and to do so with authority<\/a> regardless of whether the sources they\u2019re consulting are reliable, Flathmann and others said. Claude or ChatGPT might answer a query with extensive directions and advice that sound credible but are actually scraped from Reddit threads and out-of-date YouTube videos\u2014and might even be entirely fabricated.<\/p>\n

TikTok and Instagram may offer a viewer inspiration, but AI tends to offer instructions\u2014right or wrong\u2014as well as encouragement, Flathmann said. \u201cAI isn\u2019t trying to trick people<\/a> into going up mountains, but I think it\u2019s the natural evolution of what happens when you get a tool like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless of the resources recreators use, experts have the same advice: When you\u2019re headed to a new place, make sure you double-check your information against reliable, authoritative sources like up-to-date public-land agency maps and websites, trail association websites, or guidebooks. Even better, talk to a real-live guide<\/a>, a national forest official, or a park ranger.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re going to go into places that will kill you,\u201d Meyers said, \u201cyou should take your planning seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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\u201cOver the last two decades, there\u2019s been a phenomenal push in the media to get more people outdoors, and consequently we have more people outdoors and recreating,\u201d said Jim Moss, a Colorado-based recreation attorney and search and rescue volunteer. It\u2019s still unclear how questionable advice from a robot will influence all those people, he added. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9776,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[83,51,84,755,52,753,336,138],"class_list":["post-9775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-gadgets","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-camping","tag-chatbots","tag-climate-desk","tag-hiking","tag-national-parks","tag-outdoor-activities","tag-outdoors"],"yoast_head":"\nChatbots Are Leading Hikers Astray, With Dangerous Consequences - Silvybrand Lifestyle Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Outsourcing planning to AI can lead people to surrender their own critical thinking, which can have potentially deadly results in places like the backcountry.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=9775\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chatbots Are Leading Hikers Astray, With Dangerous Consequences - 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