AI for Identification

There have been a lot of attempts to use AI for specimen identification.  Back in May 16, 2025  couldn’t sleep last night so I ran a little test.  I showed ChatGPT some of my rocks.

Overall 70%   30 specimens it got 21

Minerals 63%  19 Specimens it got 12

Fossils 80% 10 specimens it got 8 right

So not amazing but still impressive.  Better than some of my mineralogy students back in the late 80s.  So it would appear that AI might be an useful tool beginners to "Point them in the right direction" but the identification needs to be validated my comparing the AI identification against published information.

Notes:

• I gave it the state and county or nearby city.

• This was my work ChatGTP account which we pay for so it is not the free one.

• I made sure the file name did not have any information in it.

• These were specimens from my collection, so they are in good shape and not weathered.

• It there were 2 fossils or mineral on one specimen I counted that as 2 IDs.

• Odd thing was it seemed not to use the location that much. It should have known a few of the identifications were wrong based on the location

• Spreadsheet of the results is provided below.

Follow up.....I'm currently photographing my collection and may repeat this test with more specimens