“Appeal to authority” is both a commonly used persuasion technique, and also a logical fallacy described in the excellent book Logically Fallacious: The Ultimate Collection of Over 300 Logical Fallacies. It’s when we insist that a claim is true simply because a recognized authority said it was true, and without any actual supporting evidence.
Just as I did by referencing that book. Go read it ;-)
Probably the thing that annoys me most about the GenAI tools is not the tools themselves, but rather how they are used as that “authority” by people who have no supporting evidence for the claims they’re making.
“I asked ChatGPT and it said…“ but did you actually look for any supporting evidence to verify that what it said was correct? It’s often wrong and any statements it makes needs to be verified.
The tools are quite amazing in terms of what they can do, but they are not “the authority” on any subject. Everything they say has to be verified before being used.
I get frustrated at the constant appeals to authority around these tools, and I find myself tuning out as soon as I hear the words “I asked [AI tool] and it said…“
Yes, use them to help you with a starting point, but don’t stop there. Verify that the information is correct before you start using that in arguments.