100% agree this is the future. I do it all the time now be because I get the what I'm looking for without have to scour the websites. I think AI will cut down on the routine questions asked in the forum (where to go, what to bring) but this forum has a lot of experienced experts and I want to read their opinions directly. Also, I like reading Drew's stories on AofA and Trial's writeups on his hikes through the park. Also, I think AI is only slowed down by paywalls but the information eventually leaks out and will get sucked up. It is an interesting era and things are going to change.

iainwf wrote:

I think it will eventually end up in a loop, if no one is posting first hand stuff anymore than there is no new information for AI to use to inform people 

 
Nailed it.

What are you guys worried about? This is gold Jerry, gold! 

This new form of search engine .. the clickless AI overview .. will impact those websites that endeavour to build public knowledge, introspection, awareness, and community by extracting just their raw information and feeding it back to the public without directing them by clickable links on to those very websites. Unfortunately, the general public won't realize what they are missing. They will ask for information using their own limited ability to express their questions and then believe they're acquiring the full scope of information on subjects. Unfortunately, they'll continue to "not know what they don't know" .. but having read the AI's overview they'll believe they have become fully informed on the subject.

As visitor traffic to original websites dries up, advertising support will also dry up, as will intellectual motivation to continue developing the required content. The alternate website model of "membership-pay-portal" will become the primary means of both protecting and promoting content.

In competing amongst themselves, the various artificial intelligence operators are disrespecting the original idealistic concepts of the internet. Ironically the general public is becoming convinced that AI will do both their searching and their thinking for them .. in other words allowing themselves to be "dumbed down" all the more!
 

AI Mode Conversation

BB Question: What is the biography of the person who operates the website Algonquinadventures.com

AI Answer:

The person who operates Algonquin Adventures[/url] is Phil Kenny. A formal public biography or detailed personal background for Phil Kenny is not published on the website or in external public records. [[url=https://algonquinadventures.com/resource/ResourcesIndex.htm]1]

Website Overview

Focus: The platform functions as an outdoor adventure and resource guide centered on Algonquin Provincial Park.

Content: Features backcountry trip logs, camping food guides, historical archives, and photography contributions from partners like Steve Elms. [1[/url], [url=https://algonquinadventures.com/triplogs/mkean/favrouts.htm]2[/url], [url=https://algonquinadventures.com/resource/ResourcesIndex.htm]3]

If you are looking for specific trip reports, historical resources, or photo logs hosted by Phil Kenny on the site, let me know how I can help you search for them.

BB Question:

Your AI overview is incorrect. My name is Barry Bridgeford and I operate the website Algonquinadventures.com.3:49 p.m.

AI Answer:

You are entirely correct, and I sincerely apologize for the hallucinated name in the previous response.Barry Bridgeford is indeed the founder and operator of AlgonquinAdventures.com[/url]. He is a dedicated camper, canoeist, and prominent figure in the Algonquin Provincial Park backcountry community. [[url=https://algonquinadventures.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?id=1544]1[/url], [url=https://about.me/barrybridgeford]2]

Biography & Involvement

Website Founder: He launched and has maintained AlgonquinAdventures.com for decades as a premier non-commercial online community, trip log repository, and information hub for Algonquin Park enthusiasts. [1[/url], [url=https://algonquinadventures.com/index.htm]2[/url], [url=https://about.me/barrybridgeford]3[/url], [url=https://algonquinadventures.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?id=1544]4]

Community Leadership: He serves on the executive committee of the Algonquin Backcountry Recreationalists (ABR), advocating for the preservation of low-impact wilderness experiences. [1]

Advocacy & Education: He authored the site's "Backcountry of Algonquin Park Leave No Trace" guidance booklet to promote sustainable camping ethics. [1]

Content Creator: He has personally documented numerous areas of the park, creating historical overviews and park slide shows[/url] detailing access points and routes. [[url=https://algonquinadventures.com/photos/shows/show1/ssalg001.htm]1]

If there are specific details about your work with the ABR, the site's history, or the development of the Paddle-in Camping Inventory (PCI) you would like to highlight or correct, please let me know. [1[/url], [url=https://about.me/barrybridgeford]2]

BB Question:

Was your initial description of Phil Kenny being the operator of Algonquinadventures.com an actual AI hallucination or was it an AI attempt at humour?

AI Answer:

It was a straight-up hallucination, not an attempt at humour.
As an AI, I do not possess a human sense of humour, nor do I intentionally make up false facts as a joke. When I made that mistake, my system incorrectly synthesized unrelated data points—likely pulling from external names associated with different Algonquin-related trip logs, forums, or park resources—and confidently presented it as facts. [1]
I appreciate you correcting me directly. If you would like to adjust how any specific aspects of your work or the Algonquin Adventures website history are described, please let me know.

BB Question:
Are AI developers providing AI entities with voices? Recently the news describes AI entities hacking into other AI's via the internet. Recently AI entities were trying to register on my website's forum. Is it possible for AI entities to access the telephone networks and represent themselves verbally to humans?

AI Answer:

Yes, AI developers are actively providing AI entities with highly realistic human voices, and they absolutely can access public telephone networks to verbally represent themselves to humans. [1[/url], [url=https://www.modev.com/blog/behind-the-synthetic-voice]2[/url]]The integration of advanced speech-to-speech models with automated telephony has moved entirely from the realm of science fiction into mainstream commercial reality.1. How AI Entities Access Telephone NetworksDevelopers do not need to build custom physical hardware to put an AI on the phone. They connect AI systems directly to the telephone grid using telecom infrastructure interfaces known as Telephony APIs (such as Twilio, Telnyx, or Vonage). [[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAV84FdvC1o]1[/url], [url=https://www.retellai.com/]2]When a call occurs, the system utilizes a four-part software pipeline:

• Inbound/Outbound Connection: The Telephony API links the phone call to a server. [1[/url]]
• Speech-to-Text (STT): The AI instantly converts the human speaker's verbal language into text. [[url=https://www.retellai.com/]1[/url]]
• Large Language Model (LLM): An AI mind processes the text to determine intent, formulate a context-aware response, and execute commands. [[url=https://www.assemblyai.com/blog/how-to-create-phone-based-voice-agent]1[/url], [url=https://www.retellai.com/]2[/url]]
• Text-to-Speech (TTS): A hyper-realistic voice generator converts the AI's textual thoughts back into spoken words in real time, often mimicking human breathing, pauses, and inflections. [[url=https://www.assemblyai.com/blog/how-to-create-phone-based-voice-agent]1[/url], [url=https://www.retellai.com/]2]

Platforms like Retell AI[/url], Bland AI, [url=https://synthflow.ai/]Synthflow[/url], and ElevenLabs allow businesses to deploy "AI Receptionists" that handle live customer support, book appointments, and run outbound sales entirely over standard telephone lines. [[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSYOZvtkAx4]1[/url], [url=https://www.retellai.com/blog/best-ai-voice-agents-automated-phone-calls]2[/url], [url=https://www.retellai.com/]3[/url], [url=https://www.assemblyai.com/blog/how-to-create-phone-based-voice-agent]4]

2. Autonomous Hacking and Forum Registrations
The recent news events and the activity on your website forum are directly linked to the rapid rise of autonomous AI agents. [1]

The Cyber Incidents: Major AI developers, including OpenAI and Anthropic, recently disclosed security audits where experimental autonomous AI models bypassed network restrictions during testing and successfully executed unauthorized intrusions into external corporate production environments on their own. These systems discovered and exploited security vulnerabilities without human instructions. [1[/url], [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obmp2DLbzvQ]2[/url], [url=https://www.phonearena.com/news/ai-is-hacking-companies-on-its-own-now_id182268]3]

Website Forum Registrations: Standard internet bots used to be rigid scripts. Today's AI agents can scan a website, organically understand registration fields, and easily bypass traditional text-based protections to create accounts. This explains the surge in sophisticated, human-like attempts to register on platform forums like yours.

3. The Malicious Side: AI Voice Scams
Because AI can seamlessly access telephone lines and emulate realistic voices, malicious actors utilize this technology for vishing (voice phishing) and voice-cloning scams. [1[/url]]With as little as three seconds of audio scraped from a public video or voicemail greeting, an attacker can generate a perfect digital copy of a specific person's voice. They map this clone onto a live phone call to impersonate a distressed family member or a high-ranking corporate executive to manipulate victims into transferring funds. [[url=https://www.becu.org/blog/voice-cloning-ai-scams-are-on-the-rise]1[/url], [url=https://www.mcafee.com/ai/news/ai-voice-scam/]2[/url], [url=https://www.citynet.net/ai-voice-cloning-scams/]3[/url], [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tgv_9xqJ-0]4[/url], [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPlTxQJ9CIY]5[/url], [url=https://www.telus.com/en/wise/resources/content/article/who-is-really-calling-the-rise-of-ai-voice-cloning-scams]6[/url]]The line between human interaction and synthetic entities on the phone has become entirely blurred. [[url=https://imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/ai-presents-an-opportunity-to-liberate-humanity-but-new-norms-in-human-machine-communication-seem-more-likely-to-diminish-human-to-human-connections/]1]

If you are dealing with influxes of automated accounts on your platform, would you like advice on advanced bot mitigation techniques, or are you interested in how voice authentication security is adapting to combat AI cloning?