--- title: "Google Caught Replacing News Headlines With AI-Generated Nonsense" description: "Google Discover is showing users misleading and seemingly AI-generated headlines that replace the actual ones on articles." date: "2025-12-06" modified: "2025-12-06" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/google-replacing-news-headlines-ai-nonsense" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Google" --- # Google Caught Replacing News Headlines With AI-Generated Nonsense ![Google Discover is showing users misleading and seemingly AI-generated headlines that replace the actual ones on articles.]() *Getty / Futurism* Google's forays into exposing users to dubious generative AI features have an incredibly poor track record. From [error-ridden AI Overviews]() to AI slop [dominating]() Google's image search results, users have had to put up with a lot of needless and often easily avoidable nonsense. Now, Google Discover, the firm's personalized content feed that's heavily featured on Android phones, is showing users misleading and seemingly AI-generated headlines that replace the actual ones on articles, as [*The Verge* reports](). It's yet another annoying feature that not only will lead to plenty of confusion, but it also directly undermines the agency of online publications, highlighting a [deteriorating relationship between Google and the news media](). "BG3 players exploit children," reads one headline, referring to the popular role-playing video game "Baldur's Gate 3." The [actual piece by *PC Gamer*]() is about how players have discovered how to clone virtual children *inside* the popular game to break it — and isn't an instance of actual child labor, as the dumbed-down headline suggests. A separate four-word headline *The Verge* spotted claimed "Steam Machine price revealed" — even though game company Valve has yet to announce the price of its upcoming console. The [original headline by *Ars Technica*]() reads: "Valve’s Steam Machine looks like a console, but don’t expect it to be priced like one." Google acknowledges in a small notice below a short description of the content on Discover that some elements of its links are "generated with AI, which can make mistakes." But that leaves the question of why the company chose to add bungled headlines to its Discover feature in the first place. What are its misleading, four-word headlines doing better than the often carefully crafted ones written by human editors? Is it simply a matter of saving screen real estate? **A** Google spokesperson clarified to *The Verge* that "these screenshots show a small UI experiment for a subset of Discover users." "We are testing a new design that changes the placement of existing headlines to make topic details easier to digest before they explore links from across the web," the spokesperson said. **More on Google AI:** [*Google’s AI Is Actively Destroying the News Media*]() ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()