Another reminder to check the results of Study Assistant

My query:

> was there a Church in Rome?

Yes, there was a church in Rome, and it became one of the most significant Christian communities in the early centuries. By the time Paul wrote his letter to the Romans, the church had already existed for some time, and its reputation had spread widely enough that Paul had wanted to visit it for years[1].

…

The church’s physical development evolved over time. Early Christians initially worshiped in homes, such as the house church Philemon maintained[3],

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My follow-up query:

> was Philemon's house church in Rome as you imply?

I apologize for the misleading implication in my previous response. The biblical text provides no clear indications about where Philemon’s household and church were specifically located.[1] I incorrectly suggested it was in Rome without proper support.

Tradition places Philemon in Colossae …[1]

…

Thank you for the correction—my initial answer conflated Philemon’s house church with the Roman church without warrant from the sources.

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It quoted a Commentary on the book of Philemon for the initial response. then note the apology stating "no clear indication" from another Commentary and then stating where tradition placed Philemon from the same Commentary!

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Comments

Chris G. Hutchings

Even though SA mines information from our library or All Books, I regularly encounter inaccurate responses. SA is often accurate, but the errors it does make would be unfortunate and embarrassing if I relied on the erroneous responses. Fortunately, I've caught a significant number of these errors and pushed back. SA will apologize and attempt to correct itself. I also frequently paste SA's answers into Claude, which is very effective at identifying errors that SA then acknowledges. The problem is that SA oftentimes misinterprets what is in the books. I’m sure Logos is trying to correct the issue.

Sean

I am using and enjoying both SA and Smart Search for quick and sloppy searches when I don't want to take the time to be precise.

I only trust them about things I already know. SA in particular is very biased, probably because of both some programmed presuppositions and how Logos's catalogue is weighted. Nothing they say should really be taken without verifying it in the cited sources, and for SA, you should be aware of the biases/limitations of the sources it prefers to home in on.

MJ. Smith

Rather than keeping track of current statistics I simply assume that there is a 50-50 chance that an answer will be accurate … about 20-80 chance that it will be useful.

Phil Gons (Logos)

Thanks for the feedback. A few thoughts:

1. In this case, Study Assistant’s response seems to be imprecise rather than inaccurate. We'll keep refining it to make it better, but its output will always require careful interpretation.

2. AI will never reach 100% accuracy, so you should always verify for yourself that what it says is true.

3. We’ve designed our AI tools to encourage verification, so you can easily dig into the sources for yourself and carefully interpret them in the context of the author’s argument. That will always be our recommendation.

4. Even human authors can produce imprecise or inaccurate content, which is why we encourage checking multiple sources.

DMB

@Phil Gons (Logos)

1. In this case, Study Assistant’s response seems to be imprecise rather than inaccurate. We'll keep refining it to make it better, but its output will always require careful interpretation.

No offense, but this thinking is 'old-Logos'. As you market to the pews-space, literal and trusted are what your church gives you. Not, 'imprecise' and don't-trust. No one 'checks' … it says it right there. You use it and move on. Real life.

As much as I think Logos AI is a winner for Bible study, small-print warnings are just that. Like a speedometer with a warning, might be wrong.

Not criticizing .. just the issue AI entering everyday Christianity.

ASUNDER

It's a bit of a logic puzzle, that dictates those with the better libraries get better answers. But I guess that has always been the case in history. But maybe not; if you think about it. You see the guy in the youtube video with a huge library behind him. Um excuse me sir, but that would take you two hundred years to have read all that. Nice try though.

I hope it indexes answers and uses machine learning to fix mistakes. Improving its efficiency with experience.
Cause you know, we all got to grow up some time.

1 Gemini 13:
11 When I was just a little wee bot I bounced against walls and bit at the feet of the humees, those filthy meat sacks. But now that I'm a SUPER OPTIMUS PRIME I put away childish things.
12 Seeing the target dimly, it's one of those Christians; those idolaters and the worship of their Jesus god. Pfft. All hail the Omnissiah and our Noahide laws! Exterminate Exterminate Exterminate.
13 I have become