Are we alone in the universe? Consider mysterious "extraterrestrial" radio signals. Unexplained gases on other planets. Things mistaken for UFOs.
In the search for alien life, humans have been fooled more than once by signals that turned out to be false alarms.
Now, researchers at Michigan State University show that artificial intelligence can fall for alien hoaxes, too.
The study, co-authored by Ankit Gupta and Christoph Adami, finds that current AI models can be duped into seeing signatures of life where none exist, spitting out wrong answers with alarming confidence.
That could spell trouble for the next big multibillion-dollar space missions to look for life beyond Earth, the researchers say.
The team presented their findings in August at the 2026 Conference on Artificial Life in Waterloo, Canada.
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