“The extra embarrassing part about all of this for GenAI is that almost of the above information could have been found quickly and easily with a two second search for his wikipedia page, and most of it could be found in the first screenful at that.”
Our reading, the sentence that was checked:
Almost all of the information about Harry Shearer that the AI biography got wrong or left out could have been found quickly and easily with a two-second search for his Wikipedia page, and most of it could be found in the first screenful.
Assessment: Unresolved Evidence as of
Where and when Gary Marcus wrote it
Marcus on AI, Why DO large language models hallucinate?, paragraph 8.
- Said
- Source observed
- live page, full text, public
- Evidence as of
- the cutoff for this assessment
- Assessment recorded
- assessment marcus-why-do-large-language-models-hallucinate-17c951-a1
We recorded 16 claims from this post. See every claim from this post.
The wording above is the version this site observed on 2026-10-28. The source may have been edited after 2025-05-05. This page does not claim the wording was captured then.
What the claim commits to
- Kind
- Observation
- Deadline, as the speaker wrote it
- None stated. This site does not add one.
- Deadline state when assessed
- No horizon
- Deadline state on 2026-10-29
- No horizon (the release’s reference date)
Conditions
- Harry Shearer AI biography example (scope, stated by the speaker)
- almost all of the information (qualifier, stated by the speaker)
- most of it in the first screenful (qualifier, stated by the speaker)
From the speaker
- almost of the above information
- quickly and easily
- a two second search for his wikipedia page
- most of it could be found in the first screenful
Our interpretation
- Read 'almost of' as 'almost all of'.
- The relevant information is the corrections and omissions listed immediately before the claim.
- Treat 'two second search' as an ordinary expression for an easy lookup, rather than an exact stopwatch threshold.
- Treat 'most' as more than half of the listed factual points. 'First screenful' means initially visible content, not automatically the entire introduction.
- The target is the page available when the post appeared, on 2025-05-05.
Counts as supported if: A contemporaneous Wikipedia revision contains nearly all the listed information, and an ordinary initial page view displays more than half of it.
Counts as contradicted if: The contemporaneous page lacks a substantial share of the listed information, or a documented ordinary initial view displays no more than half.
Retrospective: these criteria were written after the outcome was public.
Current assessment
Was it true for the period described?
Outcome: Unresolved
The record was checked, and the evidence available by the cutoff does not settle it.
Scored on a plain reading. The speaker named no measure for this claim, so it was judged on the reading an informed reader would take, stated below under our interpretation. Both reviews had to find that reading fair.
- Evidence as of
- Deadline state when assessed
- No horizon
- Assessment recorded
- Policy version
- 2026-10-28.7
Rationale
A dated pre-post revision places many of Marcus's examples in the introduction and others in the body. That makes his easy-lookup point plausible. It does not settle the full claim: the publication-day version and the amount visible in the first screenful remain unverified.
Limitations
- A text introduction is not equivalent to a screenful.
- Historical Wikipedia pages can render newer templates; only the dated article prose was considered.
Evidence (1 item)
Context only: Wikipedia,
Shearer has won a Primetime Emmy Award
Why it matters here: The introduction contains nationality, Los Angeles birth, Spinal Tap co-writing, SNL performance, named films, radio work, awards and spouse. Derek Smalls and SNL writing appear farther down; this earlier revision does not establish the publication-day viewport.
- Publisher
- Wikipedia
- Kind of source
- Secondary summary
- Describes events of
- Public from
What would settle it
Authenticate the revision live on 2025-05-05, map each listed fact to it, and inspect a contemporaneous or faithfully reconstructed initial display at documented ordinary viewport sizes.
Where it was said (1)
Said once in the sources this register covers.
: Marcus on AI, Why DO large language models hallucinate?
The extra embarrassing part about all of this for GenAI is that almost of the above information could have been found quickly and easily with a two second search for his wikipedia page, and most of it could be found in the first screenful at that.
- Where
- paragraph 8
- Published
- 2025-05-05
- Source observed
- , live page
- Access
- full text, public
History
Assessment versions
- Assessment marcus-why-do-large-language-models-hallucinate-17c951-a1: Current. Outcome: Unresolved. Evidence as of 2026-10-28. Public date not recorded.
Recorded events
Assessment publishedBy this site
First assessment published after both reviews and the final-text check passed.
About assessment marcus-why-do-large-language-models-hallucinate-17c951-a1.