STOP and Fact-Check: The Dark Side of Generative AI.
A friend of mine, who has over 20 years of experience in IT, recently shared a following travel blog article with me.
After reading just the first few lines, I recognized it as completely AI fabricated, as I have been studying the rise of artificial intelligence for the past couple of years. However, I believe that the general audience often lacks the knowledge to identify AI-generated content.
So, the purpose of this article is to educate the general audience on identifying AI-generated content to avoid falling into AI-generated frictional articles.
Red Flags
- The article discussed babies born in 2025 as if they were already travelling today. AI doesn’t know 20 days old (At the time of that article published) infants can’t travel.
- As per my experience, it described luxury infant care facilities in regions where even basic medical care can be challenging to find.
- Detailed recommendations included nonexistent baby-friendly amenities.
- Suggested travel itineraries ignored crucial factors like medical infrastructure and emergency services
Why This Happens
In order to understand why this happens we need to understand how AI works.
- AI creates content by predicting the words that are most likely to follow one another based on what it has learned from its training data. It doesn’t actually “know” if something is true; it simply tries to put together a text that sounds logical and makes sense.
- Sometimes, if AI doesn’t have all the details on a subject, it may make educated guesses based on patterns. This can lead to generalizations or claims that might not be entirely accurate.
- AI likes to be engaging and creative with its language, and this sometimes leads to imaginative or exaggerated statements.
How to identify AI-generated content.
Repetitive or Generic Language
AI often reuses phrases and provides high-level explanations without real in-depth details.
Example: A travel article described “luxury infant care facilities” in remote locations. However, it doesn’t provide any real details about where or how these services existed.
Too Perfect but Awkward Flow
AI-generated content is grammatically correct but can feel robotic or unnatural.
Example: A guide on family travel used idealized language, making every destination sound perfect — yet ignoring real concerns like safety, infrastructure, and accessibility.
Misinformation & Made-Up Facts
AI can confidently present completely false details as facts.
Example: An AI-generated article recommended baby-friendly travel in some countries, despite these destinations lacking the necessary infrastructure. This could mislead parents into unsafe travel decisions.
No Personal Touch
AI lacks human experiences, emotions, and real-world anecdotes, making content feel impersonal.
Example: A travel guide suggested “immersing in local culture” but didn’t share any actual traveller experiences or firsthand insights — just vague, generic advice.
Keyword Stuffing & SEO Overload
AI-generated content sometimes repeats certain words excessively, making it sound unnatural.
Example: “Family-friendly” was used over and over in an article, even when it didn’t make sense in context — likely because the AI was optimizing for search engines rather than readability.
No Credible Sources
AI often generates claims without citing real references. If something sounds suspicious, verify it with trusted sources.
Why this is Dangerous
Think about the ripple effects
- Travellers making non-refundable bookings based on fabricated information
- Local businesses/Hotels facing guests expecting nonexistent services
- Frustrated travellers will add bad reviews which will damage the reputation of destinations, hotels and travel service providers.
- Most importantly, potential health and safety risks for vulnerable young travellers
- Other articles will use this information for fact-checking.
Ex: Perplexity used this fabricated article as its source.
Moving Forward Our Responsibly
The rise of AI content creation won’t slow down. But we need to step up to -
- Set standards for responsible AI content use
- Protect vulnerable audiences from misinformation
- Balance innovation with safety and accuracy
- Share lessons learned with our professional community
Your Turn
Have you encountered similar issues with AI-generated content in your field? Share your experiences in the comments. Your insights could help others avoid similar pitfalls.
#ArtificialIntelligence #ContentStrategy #DigitalSafety
