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I have been experimenting with ChatGPT today, asking questions about the Neutral-Moresnet territory. ChatGPT gave me quite a bit of misinformation about the subject. It stated for example that The Netherlands, Prussia and Luxembourg were responsible for the administration of the territory. It is true that that The Netherlands and Prussia were responsible, but Luxembourg never was.

ChatGPT also spoke about a Moresnet Conference of 1867 which was held there and was about the Latin Monetary Union. I found information on the internet about the Latin Monetary Union, but there is no information whatsoever about a Moresnet Conference of 1867. There have been conferences about the Latin Monetary Union but I seriously doubt that there ever was one in Moresnet.

My question: Does anybody have any information about a Moresnet Conference of 1867 about the Latin Monetary Union?

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  • 5
    A perusal of contemporary publications on Moresnet, or with coverage of Moresnet, indicates that no such conference took place.
    – njuffa
    Commented Dec 25, 2022 at 13:02
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    The International Monetary Conference of 1867 took place in Paris (where Greece joined the Latin Monetary Union soon after). The 3rd country was Belguim (and not Luxembourg). So ChatGPT has gotten this wrong on 2 counts.
    – Mark Johnson
    Commented Dec 25, 2022 at 13:13
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    I would refer you to our meta discussion on the use of ChatGPT. The strong response there would indicate ChatGPT is not welcome here. A machine that is made to spew out well written BS is the worst nightmare for individuals interesting in maintaining a site with usefull, correct answers. Some of us spend hours researching and writing useful answers, but if we have to spend those hours validating every piece of fiction generated by a machine which just jumbles words together making things up that look correct,
    – justCal
    Commented Dec 25, 2022 at 15:49
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    there will be no time left to write real answers to real questions about real history.
    – justCal
    Commented Dec 25, 2022 at 15:50
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    I’m voting to close this question because it is based on nonsense generated by AI.
    – Moishe Kohan
    Commented Dec 25, 2022 at 18:45

1 Answer 1

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This is a good example why an artificial intelligence, such as ChatGPT, can come to invalid conclusions.

The Neutral Moresnet area was around 1.5 km at its widest point and 5 km long, starting at the Dutch border with (in 1867) Prussia and Belgium.

Founded on the 23 December 1865, the Latin Monetary Union the initial members were France, Belgium, Italy, and Switzerland.

The International Monetary Conference of 1867 took place in Paris in April (where Greece joined the Latin Monetary Union soon after).

The Netherlands, Prussia and Luxembourg (both of which belonged to the German Customs Union) did not belong to the Latin Monetary Union.

Luxembourg, in 1867, was still ruled by the Netherlands.

The Luxembourg Crisis came to a head on the 23rd of March 1867, which lead to the Treaty of London (11th of May 1867) bringing Luxembourg full independence and neutrality.

So where is the connection between the Latin Monetary Union, the Luxembourg crises and the area of Neutral Moresnet you may ask?

So ChatGPT has gotten this wrong on many counts, probably due to many events occuring during the same time period (March, April, May 1867).

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