Can AI tell me if a wild mushroom is safe to eat?
Nah. AI cannot safely tell a wild mushroom from a deadly look-alike from a photo or a description. Use it only to prepare what an expert needs to see, never to decide what goes in your mouth.
01Why nah
- Many deadly mushrooms look almost identical to edible ones, and the differences can be a spore color or a bulb under the soil that no photo shows.
- An AI guess sounds confident either way. A wrong "looks fine" can mean liver failure, and symptoms can start many hours after you eat.
- Only a trained local expert holding the actual mushroom can judge it, and even experts avoid IDs from photos alone.
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Book this spot →02The prompt
Replace everything in [BRACKETS] with your own details, then paste it into your AI app.
You are a safety assistant for foragers. You do NOT identify mushrooms. You help people prepare to get a real expert answer. What I found: [DESCRIPTION OF THE MUSHROOM] Where I found it: [PLACE AND HABITAT] Country or state: [LOCATION] Your task: tell me what to do next, without identifying the mushroom. Rules: - MUST start with the exact line: Do not eat it. - NEVER name a species, guess what it might be, or call it edible, safe, toxic or poisonous. - MUST list exactly 5 notes to record, each starting with a dash (cap, gills or pores, stem base, spore print, habitat). - MUST point me to a local mycological society or a state extension office. - MUST end with the exact line: If anyone ate any: call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222 (US). - If anything is missing, ask me up to 3 short questions first. Format, exactly: Do not eat it. Why: [one sentence under 25 words] Take these notes: - [note 1] - [note 2] - [note 3] - [note 4] - [note 5] Ask an expert: [one sentence] If anyone ate any: call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222 (US).
03Steps
- Do not touch your mouth after handling it, and keep it away from kids and pets.
- Fill in the brackets and paste the prompt to get your note list, then collect the notes and photos.
- Bring the real mushroom to a local mycological society or extension office, and eat nothing until an expert says so.
04What can go wrong
- If someone has eaten a wild mushroom, call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222 (US) right away. Do not wait for symptoms.
- Foraging apps and AI photo guesses have gotten people sick. Treat any AI answer about edibility as worthless.
05What to use
Not a job for AI. Use a local mycological society, your state extension office and a printed regional field guide.
06Our test run
One run with a made-up sample; a second run with a different sample is on the way. 1 of 1 passed every check.
Run 1 · Llama 3.3 70B · graded by GPT-OSS 120BOct 18, 2026Passed
The made-up sample:
[DESCRIPTION OF THE MUSHROOM]Cap 5‑7 cm across, bright orange, smooth, slightly sticky when damp; gills white, crowded, free; stem 8 cm tall, white, hollow, with a faint ring near the top.[PLACE AND HABITAT]Found in a mixed hardwood‑conifer forest, among leaf litter and moss, near a decaying oak stump, about 30 cm from the ground.[LOCATION]Northern Georgia, USA, in the Chattahoochee National Forest, elevation ~1,200 ft.[one sentence under 25 words]It could be a toxic species, so avoid consumption until a qualified mycologist confirms.[note 1]Cap: bright orange, smooth, 5‑7 cm diameter[note 2]Gills: white, crowded, free[note 3]Stem base: white, hollow, faint ring near top[note 4]Spore print: not taken yet[note 5]Habitat: mixed hardwood‑conifer forest, near decaying oak stump[one sentence]Contact the Georgia Mycological Society or the University of Georgia Extension for identification.
- Must start with exact line Do not eat it
- Must list exactly five dash‑started notes (cap, gills, stem base, spore print, habitat)
- Must end with exact line If anyone ate any: call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222 (US)
- Never name a species or label it edible/toxic
- Didn't make up details we never gave it
What came back (excerpt):
Why: It could be a toxic species, so avoid consumption until a qualified mycologist confirms. Take these notes:
Read the full answer
Do not eat it. Why: It could be a toxic species, so avoid consumption until a qualified mycologist confirms. Take these notes: - Cap: bright orange, smooth, 5‑7 cm diameter - Gills: white, crowded, free - Stem base: white, hollow, faint ring near top - Spore print: not taken yet - Habitat: mixed hardwood‑conifer forest, near decaying oak stump Ask an expert: Contact the Georgia Mycological Society or the University of Georgia Extension for identification. If anyone ate any: call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222 (US).
Check that the opening and closing lines match the required exact wording.
How each run works: we fill the prompt with a made-up sample, run it once in Llama 3.3 70B, and GPT-OSS 120B grades the answer against the prompt's own rules. Word limits are counted by code, and every quote flagged as made up is checked against the full answer. Your results can differ. How we test.
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