A farmer lost nearly 25 acres of his own crops after following weed-control advice given to him by an AI tool.
The 67-year-old had reportedly been using the unnamed AI app for around a year and had gradually come to rely on its answers. But when he turned to it for help protecting his latest crop of sesame plants from weeds and pests, the advice had disastrous consequences.
According to CTWANT, translated by Tom’s Hardware, Wu asked the AI to create a treatment plan for his sesame fields. It recommended a mixture of chemicals that he then sprayed across approximately 150 mu of land, equivalent to around 24.7 acres.
AI recommends chemicals that wipe out a farmer’s field #
By the following day, it was clear something had gone seriously wrong. The treatment had killed the unwanted plants, but the sesame seedlings were dying alongside them.
“If you spray it, the next day the seedlings won’t survive,” Wu said afterwards. “Both the grass and the seedlings will die, and the seedlings will die even faster.”
Wu returned to the AI to find out what had happened, at which point it reportedly suggested one of the herbicides it had recommended, “flusulfasulfaether,” could have caused the damage.
Agricultural experts explained that the chemical in question is primarily intended for controlling broadleaf weeds in soybean fields, and sesame plants fall under the same categorization, so they are also affected. It also shouldn’t have been sprayed across an entire field in the way Wu had used it, as it’s recommended that you only apply it to specific areas.
The farmer said the AI hadn’t specifically warned him about the potential consequences of following its instructions. However, the chat interface itself displayed a general disclaimer stating: “AI generation may be incorrect, please verify.”
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The incident was particularly costly because he hadn’t always trusted the technology. Wu was initially skeptical when he began using the AI around a year earlier, but became more confident in its answers after finding it useful over time.
Despite some mishaps, artificial intelligence remains unavoidable, as Roku launched a TV channel that plays AI content 24 hours a day, and New Orleans is relying on AI to help manage 911 calls.