It was 20 years ago that Al Gore’s book “An Inconvenient Truth” was published, and … well, it turns out that the truth was inconvenient — for Al and his band of apocalyptics.
I asked my team to use the AI chatbot ChatGPT as a referee in assessing the accuracy of the book’s scary and often-quoted conclusions.
It turns out ChatGPT is very diplomatic. Its overall conclusion was that “the fairest assessment is more nuanced than saying that ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ was simply ‘wrong.'”
Instead we learn that over and over, on page after page, the former vice president’s “specific predictions and timelines were exaggerated or did not occur as presented.”
That we can all agree on. Here are some of the predictions and ChatGPT’s conclusions about their accuracy.
Claim: Kilimanjaro’s snow would disappear within a decade.
Truth: The mountain still has ice/snow, although its glaciers have shrunk.
Claim: Glacier National Park’s glaciers will disappear by 2020 or so.
Truth: No, they have not disappeared. Maybe his timing was just way off.
Claim: Sea levels could rise by about 20 feet.