Gemini 3 has been out for a couple of weeks now. Who is finding it more useful than ChatGPT, Grok, et al.?
I gave a simple tree identification task to Gemini 3, ChatGPT, and Grok. All three failed the task with supreme confidence. A plants-only image classifier handled the task nicely and without any boasting based on the following images of a neighbor’s tree:
Here’s Gemini getting it wrong:
(It’s important to have cold-hardy plants here in Palm Beach County in case it gets slightly below freezing, as it did in 1989, or briefly snows, as it did in 1977.)
ChatGPT, “almost certainly” and with a convincing explanation:
Grok, asked “What tree is this?” answers that it isn’t a tree at all:
Here’s a Yucca filamenta photo from a nursery:
What is the neighbor’s tree? Almost surely Coccothrinax crinita (Old Man Palm), an immigrant from Cuba:
I can’t figure out why all three of these AI overlords did so badly. Yes, the plant classification web site has a smaller database of images to deal with, but given my prompt with the word “tree” in it why weren’t the general purpose AI services able to narrow down their search and do as well as a plants-only image database system?
Better than replacing real pets with generated garbage.
My aging wet-ware AI would classify the Coccothrinax crinita as “Cousin It”, resembles an old classmate of mine living in Florida with waist-length grey-blonde hair.
As for “why all three of these AI overlords did so badly”, that because it is “The Overhyped Technology Not Ready for Prime Time.” I hope the cancer mortality rate (and malpractice insurance rate) doesn’t spike from false negatives.