Chatbots Are Leading Hikers Astray, With Dangerous Consequences
Outsourcing planning to AI can lead people to surrender their own critical thinking, which can have potentially deadly results in places like the backcountry.
Sources
On Bluesky
A hiker 'pitched her tent near a “No Camping” sign, insisting she had a right to do so because AI told her she could.' The US Forest Service 'also encountered a man wandering around at a trailhead with an AI-generated map that showed prominent features on the wrong side of a nearby mountain.'
Phil Santiago (@philthepill.online) Nov 1, 2026