This is typically astute from Gary Marcus, coning the term generative pastiche to describe the combination of “sound advice for the particular circumstance (sternotomy)” with generic advice (about ergonomics) that would sensible in other circumstances” to produce a dangerous combination:
A serious and instructive medical error from the GenAI search engine Perplexity below, sent to me by a reader of this Substack, with permission to share.
The question was whether it would be ok to sit at a computer after open-heart surgery. Feel free to try to guess the error.
https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/serious-medical-error-from-perplexitys
Read the full piece here.
Mark Carrigan 