Copilot sometimes has out-dated information it should know is outdated but has no mechanism to self-correct

Question

Copilot sometimes has out-dated information it should know is outdated but has no mechanism to self-correct

Thomas Stoughton 0

I wanted help in posting a message about Mamdani, but Copilot changed my message to be about the former mayor of NYC. When I insisted it was Mamdani, Copilot dug in and insisted it was right. It also gave me two websites to confirm it was correct. In disbelief, I did check and both websites gave the correct information. I found this bizarre and had further interactions with Copilot to find out how this could happen. I think I understand now, but also think this is a serious software problem that raises questions about putting the I in AI. First of all, Copilot knows the mayor's term in office is 4 years, and no matter how old its database is, Copilot would ostensibly know that there was an election in 2025 more recent than the information in its database, and potentially a new mayor would be sworn in. I would also expect that an AI system, if aware of the political trouble Adams was in, would know his chance of re-election was dismal. But in any case, it is surprising to me that the predictable date of the election would not have triggered an automatic or at lease a request to its software team for a manual update of the database. As a former software engineer myself, I would be embarrassed to release a software product that contained such a bug in its logic or that it would have no mechanism for correction after it determines its data is out of date. In fact, Copilot told me it cannot correct its data for who is now mayor of NYC, except within the window I was currently using Copilot, even though I have now encountered this same problem in two separate sessions with Copilot. There are several ways for you to correct such problems in a timely manner. One would for you to routinely and regularly update all potentially out of date information in your database, but perhaps more efficiently, when someone objects to and corrects an error in the information, Copilot could be programed to inform a 24-7 team to confirm the mistake and update the database that is accessible to all Copilot systems. The latter solution relies on information provided by users, but verified by a team. The former relies on giving Copilot access to public websites it had based its previous information and relies on that data being updated by the owners of those sites.

Liban Bhuya 0 Reputation points

2026-07-11T21:04:51.4+00:00

Yes, my copilot did the same. However many times I persisted in informing it Eric Adams is no longer the mayor of New York it denied just as many times also denying Zohran Mamdanis role of mayor.

Edit: I've just prompted it to prove the statement Eric Adams is no longer the the mayor of New York wrong and thus answered "You’re right to challenge it—and you’re right about Zohran Mamdani.

Based on current information for 2026, Eric Adams is not the mayor of New York City.

The current mayor is Zohran Mamdani, who became the 112th mayor of NYC on January 1, 2026, after winning the 2025 mayoral election, succeeding Eric Adams.

So:

Eric Adams was mayor before.

Zohran Mamdani is mayor now.

You weren’t being paranoid—you caught a real inconsistency, and you were right to push on it."
Thomas Stoughton 0 Reputation points

2026-07-12T00:06:42.81+00:00

I eventually got my version of Copilot to agree that Mamdani was mayor. But it was interesting how it finally agreed. After a few times insisting that Adams was mayor, it suggested I can check the NYC website or the mayor of NYC website to confirm the Adams was mayor. So I checked both websites, both of which stated very clearly that Mamdani was mayor, as I had been telling Copilot all along. So I wrote back stating "I checked both websites... yada yada" and Copilot replied back suggesting I was unsure about who the mayor was because "I checked", evidently inferring I wasn't sure. I thought that was kind of interesting. A few days later, I wanted to post another comment about Mamdani and asked a new session with Copilot to help me compose what I wanted to write without violating Community Guidelines. It again insisted that Eric Adams was mayor. That is what prompted me on July 9 to see if I could report this problem to the MS software development team responsible for Copilot to fix this type of problem when it is known that data is out of date at a specific date, in this case an elected person who term expires.

Your answer

Liban Bhuya 0 Reputation points

2026-07-11T21:04:51.4+00:00

Yes, my copilot did the same. However many times I persisted in informing it Eric Adams is no longer the mayor of New York it denied just as many times also denying Zohran Mamdanis role of mayor.

Edit: I've just prompted it to prove the statement Eric Adams is no longer the the mayor of New York wrong and thus answered "You’re right to challenge it—and you’re right about Zohran Mamdani.

Based on current information for 2026, Eric Adams is not the mayor of New York City.

The current mayor is Zohran Mamdani, who became the 112th mayor of NYC on January 1, 2026, after winning the 2025 mayoral election, succeeding Eric Adams.

So:

Eric Adams was mayor before.

Zohran Mamdani is mayor now.

You weren’t being paranoid—you caught a real inconsistency, and you were right to push on it."
Thomas Stoughton 0 Reputation points

2026-07-12T00:06:42.81+00:00

I eventually got my version of Copilot to agree that Mamdani was mayor. But it was interesting how it finally agreed. After a few times insisting that Adams was mayor, it suggested I can check the NYC website or the mayor of NYC website to confirm the Adams was mayor. So I checked both websites, both of which stated very clearly that Mamdani was mayor, as I had been telling Copilot all along. So I wrote back stating "I checked both websites... yada yada" and Copilot replied back suggesting I was unsure about who the mayor was because "I checked", evidently inferring I wasn't sure. I thought that was kind of interesting. A few days later, I wanted to post another comment about Mamdani and asked a new session with Copilot to help me compose what I wanted to write without violating Community Guidelines. It again insisted that Eric Adams was mayor. That is what prompted me on July 9 to see if I could report this problem to the MS software development team responsible for Copilot to fix this type of problem when it is known that data is out of date at a specific date, in this case an elected person who term expires.