Göttingen plans AI-Gänseliesel: April Fool's joke or serious project?

Göttingen plans AI-Gänseliesel: April Fool's joke or serious project?

Göttingen, Deutschland - On April 5, 2025, a Miss -Raten April Fool's joke from the city of Göttingen caused a stir. Like the Göttinger Tageblatt planned, the city plans to equip the famous Gänseliesel with artificial intelligence in order to answer questions. However, the press release, which contained this proposal, was sent on March 31. However, the public only learned this extraordinary idea on April 2, on April 2, when it was published in the daily newspaper. Technically speaking, a “speaking” goose is quite possible.

The city of Göttingen has also spread other controversial reports in the past, for example the claim that urban climate neutrality should be achieved by 2030. The public relations department, which has 10.73 positions, is currently criticized. The consensus wonders how much working hours and effort was invested in the “April Fool's” project, while there are personnel bottlenecks elsewhere. The municipal museum, which was involved in the joke, also received special attention; After cuts of 1.4 jobs, their assessment of the situation is requested.

April Fools in the historical context

The custom of the April Fools has a long story. As dw Calendar was replaced by the Gregorian. People who missed this changeover date held April 1 for the first day of the new year and were then mocked. April Fools often end with the exclamation "April, April" and are usually meant humorous.

A well -known example of a successful April joke dates from 1957 when the BBC radiated a contribution about the harvest of Spaghetti from a spaghetti tree. Many spectators then asked how they could grow their own spaghetti trees. However, today, however, the Internet is at risk that such jokes will be misunderstood as serious news, especially in the spread of social media. The Duden declared the term "fake news" in 2017 the word of the year, and for this reason, many media companies, including Google, have posted the publication of April Fairs.