According to a recent report, Google is manually removing inaccurate answers to search queries generated by its new AI-powered search tool: Google Overviews. The search giant has taken note of the many cases that appear on social media, such as recommending that people apply glue to pizza to make the cheese stick better. In response, it is reportedly scrambling to fix the new tool it unveiled at its developer conference, Google I/O 2024 on May 14.
AI overview answers removed
According to a report by The Verge, Google is manually turning off AI overviews for web queries. In one of the reported cases, a user recently asked Google, “has any president ever owned a Ferrari,” to which it gave an accurate answer, stating that “the president of the United States, Donald Trump, had at least one Ferrari.” .
However, it is now reported that searching for the same query no longer shows any AI-generated answers. Instead, Google now mentions, “An AI overview is not available for this search.” In an email to The Verge, Meghann Farnsworth, Google's communications manager, emphasized that the company is “taking swift action” to remove certain AI Overview responses to queries.
Posts have appeared on social media platforms such as X and Threads with screenshots of inaccurate responses generated by AI Overviews. While Farnsworth told The Verge that some of the responses have been “doctored or that we haven't been able to reproduce,” instances of similar issues have become increasingly common, despite the responses being labeled ” Generative AI is experimental.”
AI Overview: The Problem
A few days ago, several cases came to light on social media platforms where Google's AI Overviews provided inaccurate and confused answers to queries, a problem associated with AI hallucination.
On one occasion, a user turned to Google to find a solution to keep “cheese from sticking to pizza.” In an odd response, AI Overviews suggested that you “add ⅛ cup of non-toxic glue to the sauce to give it extra stickiness.” The source of the answer turned out to be a sarcastic Reddit comment from 11 years ago.
In another instance, he suggested that “it is recommended to eat at least one rock a day because rocks contain minerals and vitamins that are important for digestive health,” citing geologists while referencing a 2021 satirical article from The Onion.
