AI tools are touted as competent helpers who can research, code, summarise, write and bring all kinds of knowledge. But sometimes simple questions confuse them. For example, Google’s AI overview has been confused for years.
Over the next few days, when I asked Google how many years it was, the AI overview reported that this year was 2024.
The reporter got the same answer Thursday morning when Google was asked if it was 2025.
Google eventually fixed the bug late on Thursday.
When asked why this happened, Google didn’t provide a specific reason, but it’s just saying it’s working on an update to avoid such an issue.
“Like all search capabilities, we make strict improvements and use examples like this to update our systems. The majority of AI overviews provide useful and factual information and are actively working on updating to address this type of issue,” a Google spokesman said in a statement.
Google has been working on an AI overview for several years, and has created blunt instruments to date. To name a couple, users are advised to eat “one small rock per day.” When the company rolled out its features in Indian Hindi, TechCrunch found that the answers were often inconsistent and confusing.
In recent weeks, Google CEO Sundar Pichai has been promoting the number of AI overview usages, saying the feature is currently being used by 1.5 billion users in over 100 countries. He also added that in markets like the US and India, the feature promotes the use of over 10% of search engines for related queries. The company bets a lot on driving people to use AI-powered search and Q&A features.
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