The latest trends in content optimization for search engines, as well as cutting-edge technologies such as AI Overviews and whether and how the ChatGPT service could be applied to the work of encyclopedists, were among the leading discussions at this year’s European Encyclopedia Network conference in Oslo, Norway. The Bulgarian Encyclopaedia Scientific Information Center also took part in the event. The lack of sources and the so-called “hallucinations” of artificial intelligence were cited as the biggest obstacles to its use in encyclopedic work. On the other hand, ChatGPT can make great suggestions on how to edit encyclopedia articles to present them to the reader in a clearer and more understandable form. The increasingly difficult access to reliable information in mother tongue was the main theme of the conference, presented by Naya Benzen, a policy analyst at the European Parliament. Authoritarian regimes around the world threaten the truth by spreading false information that democracy is no longer an effective form of government, she emphasised. According to a UNESCO report on disinformation, 87 percent of respondents worldwide believe that it plays a leading role in their country’s political life.
