And yet clearly the existence of these apps has made the problem worse. People don't read disclaimers. And people do idiotic things. Now, for a mushroom identification app clearly the only functionality that actually matters is telling edible mushrooms from toxic ones.
How is it okay to make fundamentally broken software and then release/sell it as if it's functional? It shouldn't be, just like it isn't for architects, engineers(real ones) to design and build buildings that fall down and cars that explode.
We don't know if it made "the problem" worse. It certainly made it worse for the guy getting poisoned. But it's possible that for each person getting poisoned, there's a couple not getting poisoned because the app correctly ID'd a mushroom.
Or a hundred people who have their intellectual curiosity satisfied. I recently used Google Lens to ID (with like 75% confidence) a mushroom I had zero intention of eating either way.
Mushroom identifying books have all of the same issues. I guess one could make an argument that it's unconscionable to publish those, too.
How is it okay to make fundamentally broken software and then release/sell it as if it's functional? It shouldn't be, just like it isn't for architects, engineers(real ones) to design and build buildings that fall down and cars that explode.