During the Google I/O 2024, the company recently launched its AI Overview feature to a broader set of public. This feature essentially replaces traditional search results with AI-generated summaries. The Search Generative Experience has been available for testers across the globe but Google decided to roll out the feature to all users, initially in the US. Now, many users have reported questionable summaries from the search giant, sometimes funny, sometimes dangerously so.
Users quickly pointed out several errors like suggesting staring at the sun or eating rocks. This is not the first time Google has faced such issues. In February, it had to shelve an image-generating feature for its AI chatbot due to inaccuracies.
Google admits the current issues but claims they are rare. According to a report by Business Insider, a spokesperson claimed that most AI Overviews provide high-quality information and that problematic examples often involve uncommon or doctored queries.
Google has claimed that they are working on removing these errors. The company stated, "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 have been uncommon queries, and we've also seen examples that were doctored or that we couldn't reproduce."
The spokesperson further added, "We conducted extensive testing before launching this new experience, and as with other features we've launched 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 started to roll out."