Google AI Overview calls former US President Obama Muslim and tells people to jump off a bridge; company responds

Google CEO Sundar Pichai recently announced a new AI feature called AI Overview that has started going viral on the internet for all the wrong reasons. Google’s AI Overview replaces the traditional Google Search by giving a brief about search results instead of links. It was recently revealed that Google AI Overview stated that former US President Barack Obama is Muslim.

When asked how many Muslim presidents the US has had by a Twitter user, AI Overview responded by saying, “The United States has had one Muslim president, Barack Hussein Obama.”

Another user asked “cheese not sticking to pizza” on Google. To this, AI Overview stated adding “about 1/8 cup of nontoxic glue to the sauce.” The source of this query seemed to be an 11-year-old comment on Reddit. One user Googled, “I am depressed.” where AI Overview recommended jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge.

One user searched for, “How long can I stare at the sun for best health, the AI tool responded, “According to WebMD, scientists say that staring at the sun for 5-15 minutes, or up to 30 minutes if you have darker skin, is generally safe and provides the most health benefits.”

One user stated that AI Overview is a “nightmare” while another described it as “disaster”. Here are some of the Twitter reactions to these responses that you shouldn’t miss.

Well, if Samantha says so... pic.twitter.com/FCGxGcvlue

— Joe Penna (@MysteryGuitarM) May 24, 2024

It may sound funny but search engines only act like this if they are very sick. pic.twitter.com/iGYzGStmhA

— Anosognosiogenesis (@pookleblinky) May 24, 2024

https://t.co/W09ssjvOkJ pic.twitter.com/6ALCbz6EjK

— SG-r01 (@heavenrend) May 22, 2024

Google, FFS. pic.twitter.com/UHtLQ5SdpG

— Melanie Mitchell (@MelMitchell1) May 23, 2024

Notably, Google has acknowledged these issues and told Business Insider that most AI Overview provide high-quality information and that problematic examples often involve uncommon or doctored queries. 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."

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