The National Weather Service used generative AI to create weather forecast graphics that displayed non-existent city names like 'Orangeotild' and 'Whata Bod' in official weather forecasts posted on social media.
The National Weather Service (NWS) used generative AI to create base maps for displaying forecast information, resulting in weather graphics with illegible and non-existent city names being posted on official social media accounts. A wind forecast for Camas Prairie, Idaho featured fictional locations including 'Orangeotild' and 'Whata Bod' instead of real place names. The agency confirmed these errors were linked to the use of generative AI and that such mistakes have occurred multiple times in the past year. A similar incident occurred on November 25 from the Rapid City, South Dakota office, which also contained misspelled locations and included the Google Gemini logo. The NWS deleted the inaccurate map on Monday after being contacted by The Washington Post. The agency stated that AI is not commonly used for public-facing content but acknowledged they are exploring strategic AI implementation. Officials noted that experimental products should typically be labeled as such, calling the lack of labeling an oversight. The incidents occurred amid significant staffing reductions at NWS, with hundreds of employees having been fired, retired, or left as part of government downsizing efforts.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
AI systems that inadvertently generate or spread incorrect or deceptive information, which can lead to inaccurate beliefs in users and undermine their autonomy. Humans that make decisions based on false beliefs can experience physical, emotional or material harms
AI system
Due to a decision or action made by an AI system
Unintentional
Due to an unexpected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed