Coloradonativebee
David Cappaert
Many native bee resources in the US are at the state level, because Idaho and Florida have different stakeholders, and different sets of taxa. If you search for info on native bees in any particular state, you may find a www site with unique resources, crafted by knowledgeable, diligent, and collaborative people.
Then there is the odd example of a nominally state level native bee resource: Coloradonativebee.com. If you start on the page for the violaceous orchid bee, you will find this bit of text: “Sure, I can write that article for you! Here is the draft:”
It turns out that the entire site is an AI creation, evident in the clunky prose and thin content. E.g.,
Violaceous Orchid Bees are known for their striking iridescent colors, making them a sight to behold in their natural habitats [which are nowhere near Colorado]
Welcome to the fascinating world of plasterer bees. These tiny wonders are part of the diverse Colletidae family, known for their unique nesting habits and ecological importance. Join me on a journey to discover the enchanting lives of these master crafters of the bee world.
The site includes an ID tool that is nearly nonsensical. See for yourself: https://www.coloradonativebee.com/nativebees/
You will find pop-up ads and heavy promotion of Common Native Bees of the Western United States, a 40 page picture booklet.
I am pretty alarmed, because :
1) There are people that WILL treat the site as legit, because every other state-level bee site IS legit. The CNB site is deeply fake, with info that is inappropriate, mistaken, and/or poorly written.
2) The CNB site is deeply disrespectful to the bee community, in that it does not include links or descriptions of the real people and projects that drive meaningful taxonomy. E.g., it has custom pages on “Bees of Michigan” or Oregon or Minnesota. Each of these is a scant re-hash of the same info, with nothing about what is actually happening in these places.
3) We can’t let a bad actor ruin the potential of AI. AI in general offers powerful new ways to facilitate taxonomy. iNaturalist, BeeMachine, and other efforts advance the field, but remain under the control of real people that will be amenable to feedback and improvement. The Colorado AI site will receive no feedback, because its “creators” are invisible on the site.
I can’t say what motivates whoever is behind CNB. But I keep in mind that the internet is dense with low quality content (click bait) intended to attract eyeballs and sell product. For CNB, this includes built-in ads for SUVs, and a bee book that I have never heard of.
I’m not prone to complain about well-meaning efforts that make a mistake or two (as I do, every day). This looks like something darker.
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Douglas Yanega
If the site uses images that are copyrighted, as I suspect, then
they can be hammered for copyright infringement. The problem is
this: who is going to do the hammering?
Unless we have an AI on our side that can generate lawsuits and takedown notices, this might be a losing battle, if only because it is likely to quickly devolve into a "whack a mole" scenario. If we shut down "coloradonativebees" tomorrow, then the people who created it could probably have the exact same content up and running the minute they are able to obtain a new site to host it. Shut that one down, and the cycle would just keep going.
There is a phrase:
"THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS"
Sigh,
-- Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 voicemail:951-827-8704 FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's) https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82
Michael Arduser
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Joel Gardner
The book links appear to be legit, though. I don't know Ryan Bartlett, but I know Heather Holm and have a copy of her book. I highly doubt she had any involvement with this. I wonder what the site creators get by promoting these books?
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Douglas Yanega
Oh dear. This is like that AI-generated Willy Wonka "theme park" in the UK, but for native bees... if there were any doubt remaining, check the references. They are completely made up. DOI's go nowhere. I feel kind of dirty for looking at the site and presumably generating ad revenue.
The book links appear to be legit, though. I don't know Ryan Bartlett, but I know Heather Holm and have a copy of her book. I highly doubt she had any involvement with this. I wonder what the site creators get by promoting these books?
The Bartlett book is on Amazon, and one of dozens of Field Guides published by a small but prolific publisher "Adventure Publications". Amazon's Advanced Search will let you search by publisher, and it turns up a lot of books like this, by a large variety of authors, and going back almost a decade.
The promo text for the book says this: "Written by debut author Ryan Bartlett, founder of the educational organization Colorado Native Bee"
So far as is possible to determine from tracking the digital
breadcrumbs, the "educational organization" consists of one
person, who administers one website, a FaceBook page (with 2000
followers), and gives lectures, which he promotes on the FaceBook
page.
Claims that the website is educational are dubious, given how little of it is genuine, but it certainly is used for self-promotion of his book (which he also promotes on the FaceBook page). I suppose the obvious question is whether the book was also written via AI.
Douglas Yanega
One last thing to note.
In the one Amazon review (https://www.amazon.com/Common-Native-Western-United-States/dp/1647553636), the following is written:
"UPDATE: The author, Ryan Bartlett, does assign specific photo credit to his contributors, but uses a format that makes it difficult for the lay-reader to assign credit. Each picture is "identified" (BUT NOT WITH AN ACTUAL LABEL) by positions a-h on each page "in descending positions." ...now, flip back and forth between pages and the photo-credit page and figure out who shot what... Argh. What were the editors at Adventure Publications thinking? Oh, wait. ...are there any editors employed over there? I mean, real, trained editors? I honestly can't tell."
Here's the thing: who are the contributing photographers, and did they contribute with consent? If he just cut and pasted people's photos from the internet, as it appears from his website (most images there are taken from iNaturalist, you can do a Google Lens search to find the originals), then the publishers WILL care about it, because the publishers are the ones who stand to get sued if there was no consent granted and the photographers want their share of the money. Last I ooked, the licensing on iNaturalist images was such that they can't be used for commercial purposes without consent.
Again, this does look to be an actual publisher, albeit one that
might be easily bamboozled by something offered by a person who
claims to be an expert. If it matters to us that our community
gets credit where it's due, and if this person proves to be a
kleptoparasite, then this would be good to push back against.
Maybe the publisher will yank the book entirely, if so. If it
turns out that it's all above board, then it's still pretty
clearly an inferior work, and maybe there should be a few more
reviews to warn potential buyers.
Peace,
holm.heath
John Purdy
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Woodrow, Woody
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Dylan Simpson
Looks like Ryan Bartlett is probably the one that made it. The guide posted on that website is sold elsewhere. I thought maybe it was a shady publisher trying to promote the book, but it also looks like the author runs the facebook group associated with the website:
https://www.facebook.com/ColoradoNativeBee
Seemingly a real person. Not sure his motivation for making an AI-generated website. My take would be naïve or ill-guided attempt by an amateur enthusiast.
Douglas Yanega
Seemingly a real person. Not sure his motivation for making an AI-generated website. My take would be naïve or ill-guided attempt by an amateur enthusiast.
Most amateur enthusiasts I know (and I know quite a few) don't try to make a profit using other people's intellectual property. I know several of them that have their own websites, too, and they aren't packed with fake content, pop-up ads, and the other stuff this site is full of. Also, they listen TO experts, not claim to BE experts, hiring themselves out for dozens of paid speaking appearances, and calling themselves an "organization".
This doesn't look to be just ill-guided, it looks like deliberate
self-promotion for profit. Maybe I'm overreacting, but it smells
fishy from top to bottom.
Peace,
Saucier, Laura
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David Cappaert
The Bartlett book(let): The sample pages suggest that the only content is a set of photos without any useful interpretation. I am pretty sure I could have written this book in a day, using screenshots obtained in a google search. Interestingly, every page is stamped with "Copyrighted material," although the intro says "All images copyright of their prospective [sic] photographers." At least one of those photos is mine, used without my knowledge or permission; if I had been asked, I would have refused. If the many photos in the Barlett book were similarly poached from elsewhere, there would be the basis for legal action. However in my experience, such action takes enormous effort, for an uncertain outcome.
Daniel Kjar
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Dr. Daniel Kjar
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Will Peterman
I was curious enough to look around a bit. Ryan Bartlett appears
to be a real arborist in the Denver area. His web site
(sanctuarytree.com) claims that he is also the lead instructor for
the arborist apprentice program at Front Range Community College,
which appears to be a real program.
The Sanctuary Trees web site has an associated blog, most of whose
posts are attributed to "Brandon". I'm not competent to determine
whether Brandon is an AI or simply a very poor writer, but it's
one or the other. The top bee-related post is dated 24 July 2023,
titled "The Importance Of Trees For Native Bees In Colorado: A
Deep Dive Into Synergistic Sustainability", and is awful. A
choice quote: "Colorado is home to over 900 species of bees, a
number significantly higher than the approximately 4,000 bee
species found in North America (Kearns & Oliveras, 2009)."
The paper cited is real, but I doubt that that is an accurate
representation of its content.
It is unlikely that the Sanctuary Trees web site could be created
and maintained without some participation from Ryan Bartlett, but
it is just barely conceivable that he is unaware of its quality.
Is anyone willing to reach out and find out what's up?
David, unless you object, I'm going to bring this up with some of
the people in Washington and Oregon who have an interest in
maintaining the reputation of state-level pollinator resources. I
doubt that anyone will jump up and do something tomorrow, but this
is likely to be an ongoing issue and they should plan for it.
Will
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Joel Gardner
The difference between the old and new website is so stark I have kind of a hard time believing that Bartlett still manages it directly. If he had any involvement, I would guess it was to pay some other shady "marketing" company to take over the domain and promote his book for him. (That Wired article suggests this is one way they make money, and scammers commonly target small authors.) But as Daniel Kjar said, someone should ask Bartlett directly.
Interesting tidbit, some of the early articles from the 2023 website list "Zapier Automation" as the author. Not even trying to hide it. I guess we know which AI was used.
Carrie McLaughlin
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