My best friend, in our late teens, once emphatically claimed that Eric Clapton wrote “I Shot The Sheriff” and that Bob Marley effectively stole the song from him. This was before the internet as we know it, so fact-checking took effort. He and I argued about this off and on for weeks. Until I wound up in a used record store and happened upon the Clapton album that had “I Shot The Sheriff”. Right there, plain as day, it stated “written by R. Marley.” So I bought the LP, even though I did not own a record player at the time, just so I could put it in front of his face and show him.

His reaction? “Well, I’ve seen a Cream album where it says he wrote it.” CLAPTON WASN’T WITH CREAM WHEN HE PUT OUT HIS COVER!11!

Similarly, my brother-in-law as a kid was quite assured that Elton John’s hit song was actually “Panty and the Jets” and refused to believe otherwise for years.

Both are pretty right-leaning guys these days and so maybe “confidently wrong” is just something that comes with a certain political persuasion? ChatGPT is just made in its makers’ image.