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Simon Willison

Screenshot of a Google search for “pillar point Harbor whale name”

The AI overview at the top says “The juvenile humpback whale spotted in Pillar Point Harbor, Half Moon Bay is named "Teresa T".
The whale is believed to have entered the harbor from the ocean near the Maverick Surf Spot. Some say it's likely that the whale took a wrong turn and is not stranded.”

ChatGPT 4o

Prompt: Use search - what’s the name of the whale in pillar point harbor right now?

ChatGPT: searched 3 sites. The whale currently swimming in Pillar Point Harbor near Half Moon Bay is a young humpback named *Teresa T*. This whale has drawn attention since arriving in the harbor around September 5, 2024. It seems to have made a navigational error but is healthy and being monitored by experts. Authorities hope that *Teresa T* will eventually find its way back to the ocean on its own without needing intervention

Like 8 September at 2:47 | Open on fedi.simonwillison.net

5 comments

Faye

@simon She said so herself? 🤪

8 September at 5:55 | Open on mastodon.social

skybrian

@simon Since the whale doesn’t know its name, this is not really a fact about a whale at all, but rather about human culture and language use. Search and therefore the AI bot seem pretty well connected to new memes.

8 September at 20:50 | Open on mastodon.social

Kenneth

@simon do you think it picked up on the “ai assistant” direction or the title and copy?

9 September at 15:31 | Open on macaw.social

Simon Willison

@kpk my guess is that the AI assistant copy was entirely unnecessary, I mainly added that as a joke

9 September at 15:39 | Open on fedi.simonwillison.net

Simon Willison

… and I just heard the whale has left the harbor as of last night! Good job Teresa T!

15 September at 18:58 | Open on fedi.simonwillison.net

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