TECH NEWS – The AI feature popping up in the search engine is saying terrible things, and a spokesperson for the Alphabet subsidiary is already on the defensive.

Alongside Google’s search engine, a feature called AI Overview has been doing some very interesting things. In principle, it was supposed to be able to give search users quick help with their queries. But it all went wrong: someone searched because the cheese didn’t stick to the pizza. The beginning of the summary is good (too much sauce, too thick sauce, too much cheese), but the tips after that are life-threatening. The AI recommends mixing 1/8 cup of non-toxic glue into the sauce. WTF?

Really hard to believe the team working on AI Overviews didn't find a number of these issues during testing… The YMYL queries especially… Let's see how Google improves the situation, and how quickly 🙂 -> Directory Of Embarrassing Google AI Overviews

I think my favorite is… pic.twitter.com/qheWGY6LVG

— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) May 24, 2024

But this is not an isolated incident. Another question was about how many rocks the user should consume. AI Overview said that UC Berkeley geologists say we should consume at least one small rock a day. In both cases, it’s hard to understand what Google’s AI is suggesting because you don’t put glue on pizza and you don’t eat rocks. Google spokeswoman Meghann Farnsworth told The Verge that these are very rare queries that don’t represent most people’s experiences. Yeah, because pizza isn’t eaten by a lot of people. Farnsworth said there are isolated instances and they will continue to improve the quality of the product. Then came a statement published by 9to5Google, again blaming infrequent searches. To repeat: a pizza and the cheese that does not stay on it is not rare. And recommending jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge because of depression is not the solution…

Google AI Overviews. Disasters.

A thread 🧵 pic.twitter.com/NSoPfQXf6K

— Ben Alfrey (@benalfrey) May 24, 2024

Have you heard?

Google's AI missteps are turning its cash cow into a laughing stock.

Dive into the 13 most embarrassing AI fails that are wrecking Google AI overviews: pic.twitter.com/y2GvJJwUcK

— Vensy (@vensykrishna) May 24, 2024

“The vast majority of AI overviews provide high quality information, with links to dig deeper on the web. Many of the examples we’ve seen were unusual queries, and we’ve also seen examples that were manipulated or that we couldn’t reproduce. We conducted extensive testing before launching this new experience, and as with other features we’ve introduced in Search, we appreciate the feedback. We’re taking swift action where appropriate under our content policies and using these examples to develop broader improvements to our systems, some of which have already been rolled out,” Google wrote.

Typical response from them.

Source: WCCFTech, The Verge, 9to5Google