why you should be careful around AI

In the phrase good breeding, is the word breeding a participle (with that "-ing," it sure looks like a present-participial construct) or a gerund? AI says one thing in one place, and another thing in another place, which is grounds for not trusting it, or at least for caution around it.

About participles, Google AI says a participle is

a word formed from a verb (e.g., going, gone, being, been) and used as an adjective (e.g., working woman, burned toast) or a noun (e.g., good breeding). In English, participles are also used to make compound verb forms (e.g., is going, has been).

About whether breeding in the phrase good breeding is a participle or a gerund, Google AI had this to say:

In the phrase "good breeding," breeding is a gerund, functioning as a noun. A gerund is a verb form that ends in "-ing" but is used as a noun.

Here's a breakdown of why:

• A gerund acts as a noun. It names a concept, action, or thing. In this case, breeding refers to the quality of someone's upbringing, not an action currently happening.
• A participle acts as an adjective. If breeding were a participle, it would be modifying another noun, as in "the breeding dogs." In "good breeding," the adjective good is modifying the word breeding, confirming that breeding is a noun.
• An ordinary noun. The word has evolved over time into a conventional noun with its own meaning separate from the original verb "to breed." In this way, "breeding" is similar to words like "building" or "meeting," which can function as either gerunds or verbal nouns.

While not entirely contradictory, you can see there's some confusion. In the first AI entry, it's suggested that a participle can function as an adjective or a noun. But in my view, if it's got "-ing" and is functioning as a noun, it's a gerund. In the second entry, when I asked the AI whether breeding in the phrase good breeding was a participle or a gerund, it clearly said it was a gerund, but it hedged a bit at the end and suggested that "words like 'building' or 'meeting'... can function as either gerunds or verbal nouns"—this after clearly noting that a gerund acts as a noun while a participle acts as an adjective.

I edited the AI's remarks for consistency; I was amused by how the AI's original punctuation fluctuated between US and UK styles, with periods outside of quotation marks while commas remained inside them. Curiouser and curiouser.

My final verdict is what it was before I consulted the AI: breeding is a gerund.

(NB: I had originally consulted the AI because of curiosity about participles. It was the AI that mentioned the word breeding and led me down this rabbit hole.)