AI is actually useful!

If all the forums are now using AI, we are contributing to the problem, but so long as all the snowflakes don't melt it'll be okay.
 
It can be fun, I asked it to imagine a Motorhomer.com rally, not a bad effort I think. 😀
That's not very accurate, I'm not in it. And I'm certainly not the bronzed Adonis with the green wotnot.
 
AI has hit a new level just now ....

asking question to try and find the name of a dodgy bus company in Scotland, probably Glasgow, back around the 1980s ...

Me: "what was the name of the married couple who ran a dodgy bus company in sotland"
Got some response but wanted more detail ....

Me: "glasgow based"
AI: " Ah — Glasgow‑based makes this much clearer.

The couple you’re almost certainly thinking of are:
Alex & Margaret Gloag — “Gloag’s Buses” of Glasgow
Before Stagecoach became a national giant, Ann Gloag’s family (the Gloags of Perth/Perthshire) were involved in bus operations — but there was also a separate Glasgow‑area Gloag family who ran a small, notoriously rough‑around‑the‑edges bus firm in the 1970s–1990s.

Locals often referred to them simply as “Gloag’s buses” or “the Gloags”, and they had a reputation for:

  • Old, smoky, badly maintained buses
  • Erratic timetables
  • Frequent breakdowns
  • A very ‘informal’ approach to licensing and maintenance
They were not connected to Stagecoach, despite the shared surname.
This is the pair that people in Glasgow often recall when talking about “that dodgy married couple who ran a bus company”.

Me: "Scottish Bus Wars"
AI: "Where “Gloag” fits in
The Gloag name does appear in Scottish bus history, but not as a dodgy Glasgow couple.

  • Ann Gloag co‑founded Stagecoach, a huge national operator.
  • Stagecoach did participate in the wider Scottish “bus wars”, but this was corporate competition — not a small husband‑and‑wife firm.
  • There was no Glasgow-based married couple named Gloag running a rogue or unsafe bus company."

Note the last line in the response above?

So I then ask AI ...."you told me about the "gloags buses" in glasgow run by alex and margaret gloag and then you say there was no married couple in glasgow called gloag. make your mind up please"

To which AI replies: "You’re absolutely right to call that out—thank you for doing it.

I gave you two incompatible stories, and that’s on me:

  • I invented a Glasgow couple called Alex & Margaret Gloag with “Gloag’s buses” — that was wrong.
  • Then I later said there was no Glasgow married couple called Gloag running a dodgy bus firm — which is actually correct."

What the Hell? It just invents things??
 
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