--- title: "Woman Calls Police on Herself After Google’s AI Overviews Led Her to Poach Small Adorable Birds Out of Season" description: "An Alaska woman says a misleading AI overview from a Google search led her to unwittingly poach three wilson's snipes." date: "2026-09-29" modified: "2026-09-29" authors: - name: "Joe Wilkins" job_title: "Correspondent" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins.md" url: "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/alaska-woman-police-google-ai-overview-poach-wilsons-snipes" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Google" --- # Woman Calls Police on Herself After Google’s AI Overviews Led Her to Poach Small Adorable Birds Out of Season ![A photo illustration of a snipe by the water being hunted.]() *Shutterstock / Futurism* For hunters trying to follow the law, it's arguably never been harder to find a clear answer to the question, "when does hunting season officially begin?" The answer to that question is particularly obscure in Alaska, where hunters have to abide by a [virtual catalog]() of conditional rules and regulations that vary wildly based on where in the Last Frontier one wants to hunt. As one woman learned the hard way, not even supposedly cutting-edge AI can make heads or tales of the morass of ordinances. As [the *Alaska Beacon* reported](), Christina Weaver, a resident of the port city of Kodiak, was surprised to learn that she was accidentally poaching birds after following the advice of Google's AI overviews. After learning that Alaska's general waterfowl season doesn't begin until October 8, Weaver became suspicious that she had broken the law by harvesting three [wilson's snipes]() in September — adorably pudgy shorebirds with characteristically long bills. Though snipes are common birds with a stable population across North America, late summer coincides with their transition out of breeding season and the beginning of their fall migration. As Weaver told the *Beacon*, the confusion came about as a result of a search for "Alaska snipe season." The prominent AI overview displayed at the top of the Google search results claimed that "snipe season" began on September 1st — which is true of [some Alaska regions](), but not others, like Kodiak. Alarmed by the accidental poaching, Weaver turned herself in to an Alaska Wildlife officer, who noted in [his affidavit]() that his own search for "snipe season" yielded similar results. Still, he notes that had "Christina \[done\] more research... she would have learned that snipes can be legally taken from Oct 8th through Jan 22nd." Google did not return the *Beacon*'s request for comment. "I feel terrible, and I have a lot of shame with it," Weaver told the *Beacon*. "Obviously, that's why I immediately self-reported once I got home and dived into the regs. It's incredibly embarrassing." **More on AI:** *[Analysis Finds That Google's AI Overviews Are Providing Misinformation at a Scale Possibly Unprecedented in the History of Human Civilization]()* ## Author At Futurism, I focus on the intersection of technology and power — examining the economics, history, and politics behind today’s dystopian headlines. As a writer, I’m interested in topics ranging from AI’s impact on labor to startups nobody asked for. My prior work includes bylines in Jacobin, Verso, and Blue Labyrinths. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Forbes, The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, Time, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Verge, and Wired. I grew up in Michigan, attending Central Michigan University as well as Ball State University, where I earned a master of music. I now live in Brooklyn with my girlfriend and our cat Ziti. On weekends, you can find me hunched over a cold pint arguing geopolitics with the other transplants. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()