AI slop is coming for everything. Nothing special to see here. Just ranting about an egregious example.
I casually wondered last night whether viewers had discussed an odd comment in the series #Ozark that #cranes (the #birds, #Gruidae) nest in trees. I used DDG to search and found nothing. But there was a link that had the weird title, "Top 15 Types of Cranes Birds in Michigan". I'm don't want to link directly but remove the extra letter in the protocol here and you should be able to see the page: hhttps://flyaviary.com/types-of-cranes-birds-in-michigan/. It is in fact currently the top non-ad link in DDG for "Michigan Cranes". The second link is a marginally less sloppy piece on "4 Types of Cranes in Michigan".
So, the actual number of crane species in Michigan is 2 (more like 1.0001), with Whooping Cranes passing through in small numbers on top of the regular Sandhill cranes. There are 15 species worldwide.
The Table of Contents (in the screenshot I share) shows a structure that doesn't understand how a real document would be organised (different subtopics in the title for each species, section 15 would naturally come after 16, etc.).
The page references Common and Eurasian Cranes, which would be the same species.
The images are all AI-generated. The birds have egret-like plumes. One bird has three legs, one has four. One of the "brolgas" is a hovering neck and pair of wings.
The text includes these gems:
"From the towering Whooping Crane to the dainty Demoiselle, discover Michigan's top 15 crane species and their stunning visuals—details inside!"
"Often seen in pairs or small groups, they have rebounded greatly in Michigan, underscoring their important role in maintaining the ecological balance and biodiversity of the region." (Huh?)
"Essential for establishing territory and warning of threats, the calls can be heard over several kilometers, helping the cranes see one another even when they are two feet apart in dense habitats." (My personal favourite factoid here.)
(Of Grey Crowned Crane) "Unlike the two crane species seen in large flocks in Michigan, these cranes' predation pressures contribute greatly to their vulnerable status, exacerbated by human encroachment and poaching."
Interestingly Google, unlike DDG, is not showing either of the top two DDG hits in the first pages of its search.
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