Learn · a trick with a name
Scope Swap
applies to far less than it sounds like.
A claim about something small gets read as a claim about something big.
How to spot it
- A general headline over a narrow finding
- Tested on one task, sold for all of them
- The scope sentence is in the last paragraph
The one question to ask“What exactly did this cover, and what didn't it?”
At work
Match the claim's scope to your use case before you rely on it. Close is not the same as covered.
Caught in the wild
Every time we've caught it so far. Try calling each one before you open it.
- TRUE, BUTMcDonald's is using AI to 'dynamically' price your burger. The Reuters report behind that line describes a per-store price recommender, and says it could not tie the Fresno Big Mac gap to it.
- TRUE, BUTNvidia 'wants to put a watchdog chip next to every AI agent.' Per Nvidia's own developer blog, the watchdog is optional software on a BlueField-4 chip it announced in January.
- TRUE, BUTBill Gates did say AI is powerful enough to drive events that cause a billion deaths. His next sentence named the weapon: people with ill intent using the latest AI tools. The headlines we checked kept the first sentence.
- TRUE, BUTThe Pentagon says a federal appeals court just 'completely' validated its blacklisting of Anthropic. The court did back it, 2-1. On one of the Pentagon's two designations. A federal judge's ruling against the other one is still in effect.
- TRUE, BUTThe headline says an AI hacked a government. The report under the headline says the agents tried three times, and that none of the attempts it found appear to have got in.
- TRUE, BUTGemini helped three hikers plan a Mount Shasta climb. Rescuers reported inadequate food-and-water advice. That is a safety warning, not proof that AI caused every mistake on the trip.
- TRUE, BUTFree ChatGPT went unlimited last week. Opt out of ads and it stops being unlimited.
- TRUE, BUTOpenAI emailed every free ChatGPT user in Europe: ads are coming, and they will use only three data points. Their own privacy policy lists seven.
- TRUE, BUTAlibaba just passed Meta in downloads. Meta passed a billion before this scoreboard started counting.
- TRUE, BUTFree users got the unlimited model. Paying users kept the one that is right more often.
- TRUE, BUTMusk told SpaceX employees their AI will be trained on them. Details on what data, how, or whether they can say no: zero.
- TRUE, BUTOpenAI's new memory feature takes no screenshots. It records everything you click and type instead.