A Problem with AI Authoring

[Paolo]

Reddit thread: click here (https://www.reddit.com/r/mycology/comme ... Fnya7S0LjL CuDUgZjryFUW0nF%2FIetLOvbT1m3XQ1sOHyHoyN0Fcn1ue8LO cfSYc6d5%2Fjem3xuhtHkEwHWB5Wp8MIRPazFn657qjEvzfCmb 9u27idvU1BQ9IebTT4tN5UKA0WpKg%2FTEB4%2Fdj9XhA1L5Lh oA1SiCClCTZa1JJBj3KcbLRgdUYZ9rca8SlmpGSabSiGPwpphp xyPNE%2F2Qi3ik2lHi2N7mdG2s5voMJE9jtOguZyqwLx6HzHQP s7A3053k6OjT3UOCgrNqigge3C8UJU7BIshIy%2Fxf7emtVj69 RSuEsCmKHoFpd81wuLpC9D%2FRmZ%2BAQAA).

The author of this thread mentions foraging and field guide books written by fictitious authors and AI.

In short, their species ID's will kill you.

I have not looked up any of these guides, but I don't doubt they're out there.

The author also lists a guide to good books on the subject of foraging: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2P ... FVAwcNN8N3 BOp-fyEwU0iDF2MPNFelT0X1/pub

I follow several subs on Reddit pertaining to wild food, how to forage, gardening, and mushrooms. Lately, these groups have seen a big increase in people posting pictures of wild plants and (most disturbingly) mushrooms, asking for ID and if they're edible.

The problem with foraging is that one little ID mistake can literally kill you.

For example, the Destroying Angel mushroom. The name applies to several similar, closely related species of deadly all-white mushrooms in the genus Amanita. They are Amanita bisporigera and A. ocreata in eastern and western North America, respectively, and A. virosa in Europe. Another European species of Amanita referred to as the destroying angel, Amanita verna - also referred to as the 'Fool's mushroom' - was first described in France in 1780.

Young specimens like this are sometimes confused with puffballs or other non-deadly mushrooms.

Destroying angels are among the most toxic known mushrooms; both they and the closely related death caps (A. phalloides) contain amatoxins. Once ingested, these toxins halt RNA production in the liver and kidneys, and lead to a slow death in about two weeks. Transplants are the only treatment if caught in time. These mushrooms are especially deadly to Asian immigrants in the USA, who often confuse them with a perfectly safe, desired mushroom from "back home".

Nightshade berries are also another one - pick the wrong nightshade to eat, and you can end up dead.

Autumn olives can also be easily confused with other toxic red ornamental berries.

Chanterelle mushrooms are easily confused with the Jack-O-lantern mushroom, which isn't deadly, but you'll wish it were!

I've been studying wild edibles for a long time, starting with hunting wild greens with the grandmothers and aunts in my family, as well as morel mushrooms, nuts, and wild fruits. I've only poisoned myself once, and made myself "a bit off" once by mistaking the ID of the DEAD tree that I harvested wild mushrooms from. I ate a Polyporous squamous off a dead buckeye tree - a nut tree that is quite toxic - unless you're a squirrel and can smell which nuts are not. Buckeye nuts are sometimes (rarely) mistaken for edible nuts. The other instance was eating L. sulfureus (chicken of the woods) mushrooms that I harvested from a sassafras stump. The edibility of the latter is somewhat in question, and the berries are toxic.

"When in doubt, throw it out!" is a good creed to live by when foraging. Literally.

So if you're looking to start, and get some books, make sure you've got a real book!

[Prudence (imported)]

Great info, thanks for sharing it.

[WheelyCurious]

Hmmm.... I remember back in Boy Sprouts that in the little bit of foraging they taught us, sassafras roots were considered good for making tea with.... We were also told that sassafras was also the original ingredient in Root Beer before the chemical companies decided to make a 'better' substitute....

That said, I have to agree with the advice about not eating wild foraged stuff unless you are sure that you KNOW what it is...

Also, be very wary when 'friends' point out and suggest using particular leaves as emergency toilet paper....

WheelyCurious

[Paolo]

More on the subject:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... tten-by-ai

Amateur mushroom pickers have been urged to avoid foraging books sold on Amazon that appear to have been written by artificial intelligence chatbots.

Amazon has become a marketplace for AI-produced tomes that are being passed off as having been written by humans, with travel books among the popular categories for fake work.

Now a number of books have appeared on the online retailer’s site offering guides to wild mushroom foraging that also seem to be written by chatbots. The titles include “Wild Mushroom Cookbook: form [sic] forest to gourmet plate, a complete guide to wild mushroom cookery” and “The Supreme Mushrooms Books Field Guide of the South-West”.

Four samples from the books were examined for the Guardian by Originality.ai, a US firm that detects AI content. The company said every sample had a rating of 100% on its AI detection score, meaning that its systems are highly confident that the books were written by a chatbot such as ChatGPT.

Examples of prose from the books include: “The sweet smell of freshly cooked mushrooms wafted through the air, bringing back fond memories of my mother” and “Foraging for wild mushrooms is a deeply rewarding experience that connects us with nature’s abundance and the rich tapestry of flowers that the Earth provides.”

The other books tested by Originality.ai were “Wild Mushroom Cookbook: A beginner’s guide to learning the basics of cooking with wild mushrooms for health and flavor, complete with easy-to-follow recipes!” and “Wild Mushroom Cookbook: unlock the delicious secrets of nature’s most flavorful fungi”. The Guardian has attempted to contact the authors named on the books.

Leon Frey, a foraging guide and field mycologist at Cornwall-based Family Foraging Kitchen, which organises foraging field trips, said the samples he had seen contained serious flaws such as referring to “smell and taste” as an identifying feature. “This seems to encourage tasting as a method of identification. This should absolutely not be the case,” he said.

Some wild mushrooms, like the highly poisonous death cap, which can be mistaken for edible varieties, are toxic.

Frey said that one book refers to the lion’s mane fungus, which is edible but a protected species in the UK and should not be picked. “I would recommend choosing books from reputable sources,” he added.

Prof Myron Smith, a fungi specialist at Carleton University in Canada, said the books were “totally irresponsible”. He said: “Some of the differences between edibles and non-edibles are very subtle and it really takes an experienced eye and knowledge to discriminate between them.”

The AI mushroom books were first reported by the 404 Media site. The AI-generated works had also been highlighted by the New York Mycological Society, which posted on X, formerly known as Twitter: “@Amazon and other retail outlets have been inundated with AI foraging and identification books. Please only buy books of known authors and foragers, it can literally mean life or death.”

Amazon said it was reviewing the books brought to its attention by the Guardian.

An Amazon spokesperson said: “We take matters like this seriously and are committed to providing a safe shopping and reading experience. We’re looking into this.”

[Valery_V (imported)]

I love fried, salted, marinated mushrooms, as well as mushroom soups!

But for many years I can not afford this pleasure.

I have read that it is possible to grow edible mushrooms individually.

For example,

"How To: Grow Mushrooms at Home"

https://www.bobvila.com/articles/how-to-grow-mushrooms/

[Paolo]

I've never had much luck with mushroom kits. I've had a few good hauls this year of various species, though.

[Valery_V (imported)]

I've never had much luck with mushroom kits. I've had a few good hauls this year of various species, though.

I have a fantasy about how you can use the "catch of mushrooms".

MUSHROOM SWEET CORN PASTA

https://delightfulplate.com/mushroom-corn-pasta/

CREAMY MUSHROOM AND SWEET CORN SOUP

https://foodtrails25.com/creamy-mushroo ... corn-soup/

Mushroom and Potato Chowder

https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/mus ... o-chowder/

Russian Mushroom and Potato Soup

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/80773 ... tato-soup/

Mushroom and potato casserole: a delicious dish ready in no-time!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mIv4NfqZy0

(I hope that there was no AI interference here).

[Paolo]

Hmmm.... I remember back in Boy Sprouts that in the little bit of foraging they taught us, sassafras roots were considered good for making tea with.... We were also told that sassafras was also the original ingredient in Root Beer before the chemical companies decided to make a 'better' substitute....

That said, I have to agree with the advice about not eating wild foraged stuff unless you are sure that you KNOW what it is...

Also, be very wary when 'friends' point out and suggest using particular leaves as emergency toilet paper....

WheelyCurious

I remember my Grandmothers and the Aunts having their annual sassafras tea party every spring. It was a "tonic," or a "spring tonic," to "clean out the blood". All it did was clean out my colon; that's IF I didn't puke it up first! I have a row of them growing here, but I don't mess with it. Chopping at the roots damages the tree, and it's quite a bit of work. Other older folks here cite it as a purgative.

Their other big thing was wild greens. I hated those, too! Fortunately, we never got into any hemlock (not to be confused with the trees): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGSyIA2 ... bWxvY2s%3D

[WheelyCurious]

When I was growing up, the family owned a summer cottage on a lake, it was in a development known as 'The Hemlocks' after the predominant trees in the area... I remember being very confused when I first heard about Socrates in school and how he was done in by being forced to drink hemlock... I knew from experience that hemlock needles tasted nasty, but weren't deadly (when eating outside they would frequently blow off the trees into whatever you were having) so why did he die? Was a long time before I learned that there was hemlock OTHER than the tree... Probably a very good thing we were not encouraged to forage as kids...

I also remember a time when a couple of friends and I decided we wanted to build a tree-house, starting by removing all the hairy vines on the tree we were going to use.... Summer time so we weren't wearing much beyond shorts and sneakers... Of course it took a while, so we had to water the shrubbery a couple of times....

There are certain places one does NOT want poison ivy, and I think we got most of them....

Needless to say we went through a LOT of calamine, and decided that it was probably best not do continue construction....

WheelyCurious