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Wind Power? Or hot AI-R

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Date

AI-R ... for AI Research, or AI-Ruins?

In my last post I covered (briefly) the S1500 buoyant wind turbine, and I closed by saying I would continue the series with a bit more about wind energy from a project perspective.

In this post I provide readers with the result of some back and forth with AI that yielded a set of myths and facts about wind energy that was educational for me on two fronts.

It solidified some background science around wind turbines
It re-confirmed what I have been ‘preaching’ about AI – it takes a CON-VER-SATION and critical thinking to create anything of value with AI.

In fact, I must say, this turned out to be more of an exercise on AI use and lessons learned than on wind power.

So, without further delay, here are three infographics that cover myths and facts about wind turbines (and related projects). I will comment about what it took to generate these and where AI succeeded, and where it fell down miserably.

First up: Birds

Next up: Whales

Next up: Windmills are not green (??)

And lastly, I asked AI to keep the same theme and give me sources. Here it failed miserably, putting some of the valid sources under the MYTH column, counter-productive to the prompting and previous parts of the conversation.
You need to watch AI’s outputs very carefully! And even then, the source links it provided were often dead ends and I needed to go find them myself.

I gave up having it draw these and below I provide the sources in link form for you.

But wait! I thought I would check the sources. I did. Many were wrong. Many were dead ends. I think in many cases they were sites that have been edited by the new US Administration. But whatever the reason, there is a lesson learned here - do not take verbatim what AI gives you, even something like a link for a source. Maybe especially a link for a citation or a source!

Sources

Birds

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service – Bird mortality data: https://www.fws.gov

May et al. (2020) – Blade painting study: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-020-01738-2

WRONG! Here is a more valid link: https://tethys.pnnl.gov/sites/default/files/publications/May_EcolEvol_2020.pdf

Arnett et al. (2013, 2016) – Curtailment studies: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320712005052

WRONG! Here is a more valid link: https://tethys.pnnl.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Arnett-2016-Bats.pdf

WRONG! Here is a more valid link: National Audubon Society – Wind energy policy: https://www.audubon.org/conservation/wind-energy

Whales

NOAA Fisheries – Offshore wind & whales FAQ: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov

WRONG – Or at least too high up in the web structure! Here is a more valid, specific link:

https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/new-england-mid-atlantic/marine-life-distress/frequent-questions-offshore-wind-and-whales

Marine Mammal Commission – Fact sheet: https://www.mmc.gov

WRONG – Or at least too high up in the web structure! Here is a more valid, specific link:

https://www.mmc.gov/priority-topics/offshore-energy-development-and-marine-mammals/renewable-energy-development-and-marine-mammals/

With this (and other problems with links, such as being sent to “Forbidden” sites, I gave up. I stopped going to AI for sources and the remainder you see here were done by the (human)author.

Human-found sources:

Green/Energy Payback

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/383304335_Determining_Payback_Period_and_Comparing_Two_Small-Scale_Vertical_Axis_Wind_Turbines_Installed_at_the_Top_of_Residential_Buildings IEA –

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/392309203_Empirical_life_cycle_analysis_LCA_of_wind_turbines

So, my friends, please. Use AI. It can be helpful. But each interaction requires your ATTENTION and CRITICAL THINKING to what it gives you - don't take it verbatim. This applies to images, text, and, as I learned here, references and citations.

Posted by Richard Maltzman on: September 30, 2025 10:01 PM | Permalink

Comments (3)

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Luis Branco CEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, Ldª Carcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal

Richard
Loved the myth‑vs‑fact infographics, and I really appreciate the transparency about where AI fell down on sources.
Your core point lands: AI is a conversation, not an oracle and the value only appears when we add critical thinking.
What’s been working for me when using AI for citations/references in technical topics: Curate first, then ask: give the model a vetted corpus (e.g., primary agencies, peer‑reviewed papers) and have it retrieve from that set only.
Ask for identifiers, not links: request DOIs/report numbers/titles first; assemble the final links yourself from the identifiers.
Map claim → source: require a per‑claim provenance tag so each assertion has an explicit source.
Triangulate: confirm key facts with at least two independent primary sources.
Stability check: prefer permanent or archived links (and keep a copy of the citation metadata).
This echoes the last step of my decision model (“Verify” is non‑negotiable): publish, then re‑check and correct quickly when needed.

Posted: Oct 1, 2025 11:02 AM

Gwenola Michaud

Community Champion

Project Manager & Advisor| Geosciences & Monitoring Consulting Milano, Italy

Thank you, Richard of this blog, illustrating some observations when using AI:
1. Power in summarizing some information
2. Inspiration on how to view info in an efficient manner
3. Yet, importance on need to check facts and sources, in order to verify existence, content and accuracy.
The AI helps us to be efficient in info gathering and viewing, giving us more time and space to focus on content validation. This is the great part!

Posted: Oct 15, 2025 3:01 AM

AFOLABI KAMORUDEEN AJIBOLA Lagos, LA, Nigeria

It is key to always fact-check and tailor accordingly when using AI

Posted: Nov 7, 2025 11:58 AM

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