Pundit ClaimsAI claims by Gary Marcus and Ed Zitron, with the evidence

“A new study of the latest system, GPT 4.5 showed that by on one standardized measure over 1/3 of the outputs are still hallucinations.”

Decoding (and debunking) Hard Fork’s Kevin Roose, paragraph 16. The full statement is at the source.

Our reading, the sentence that was checked:

On one standardized measure, over a third of GPT-4.5's outputs are hallucinations.

Assessment: Supported Evidence as of

Where and when Gary Marcus wrote it

Marcus on AI, Decoding (and debunking) Hard Fork’s Kevin Roose, paragraph 16.

Said
Source observed
live page, full text, public
Evidence as of
the cutoff for this assessment
Assessment recorded
assessment marcus-decoding-and-debunking-hard-forks-a7e70f-a1

We recorded 16 claims from this post. See every claim from this post.

The wording above is the version this site observed on 2026-10-28. The source may have been edited after 2025-03-02. This page does not claim the wording was captured then.

What the claim commits to

Kind
Observation
Deadline, as the speaker wrote it
None stated. This site does not add one.
Deadline state when assessed
No horizon
Deadline state on 2026-10-29
No horizon (the release’s reference date)

Conditions

  • on one standardized measure (qualifier, stated by the speaker)

From the speaker

  • A new study
  • GPT 4.5
  • on one standardized measure
  • over 1/3
  • outputs are still hallucinations

Our interpretation

  • The claim concerns a contemporaneous reported benchmark result, not all GPT-4.5 outputs in ordinary use.
  • SimpleQA is the identified measure corresponding to the reported result.
  • The target period is February 2025, the launch-evaluation month immediately preceding the post.
  • Over one third requires a hallucination rate strictly greater than 33⅓%.

Counts as supported if: The contemporaneous GPT-4.5 evaluation reports a hallucination rate greater than one third on at least one standardized benchmark.

Counts as contradicted if: The identified result is at or below one third, concerns another model, or measures something other than the claimed hallucination rate.

Retrospective: these criteria were written after the outcome was public.

Current assessment

Was it true for the period described?

Outcome: Supported

The dated evidence matches what the claim committed to, under the criteria frozen before grading.

Scored on a plain reading. The speaker named no measure for this claim, so it was judged on the reading an informed reader would take, stated below under our interpretation. Both reviews had to find that reading fair.

Evidence as of
Deadline state when assessed
No horizon
Assessment recorded
Policy version
2026-10-28.7

Rationale

The reported SimpleQA hallucination rate was 37.1%, which exceeds one third. OpenAI's launch page confirms the benchmark and its factual-question scope. Marcus expressly restricted the statement to one standardized measure, so it should not be read as a claim about all GPT-4.5 responses.

Limitations

  • The exact percentage is supported by Computerworld's report of OpenAI's evaluation, not a readable primary numeric table.
  • This is a benchmark-specific result and does not establish an ordinary-use hallucination rate.
  • The cited news report was published later but describes the February model evaluation.

Evidence (2 items)

  • Supports the claim: Computerworld,

    37.1% hallucination rate on SimpleQA.

    Why it matters here: The report identifies a 37.1% hallucination rate for the February GPT-4.5 model on SimpleQA, exceeding one third. This is secondary reporting of OpenAI's result because the primary page's numeric chart values were absent from readable text.

    Publisher
    Computerworld
    Kind of source
    News report
    Describes events of
    Public from
  • Context only: OpenAI,

    challenging knowledge questions.

    Why it matters here: The launch announcement confirms the relevant standardized evaluation and its factual-question scope. The extracted text does not expose the numeric bars, so this item supplies context rather than the threshold evidence.

    Publisher
    OpenAI
    Kind of source
    Company disclosure: the company describing itself, not an independent finding
    Describes events of
    Public from

Where it was said (1)

Said once in the sources this register covers.

  • : Marcus on AI, Decoding (and debunking) Hard Fork’s Kevin Roose

    A new study of the latest system, GPT 4.5 showed that by on one standardized measure over 1/3 of the outputs are still hallucinations.

    Published
    2025-03-02
    Source observed
    , live page
    Access
    full text, public

History

Assessment versions

Recorded events

  1. Assessment publishedBy this site

    First assessment published after both reviews and the final-text check passed.

    About assessment marcus-decoding-and-debunking-hard-forks-a7e70f-a1.