--- title: "Google Humiliated as Its Idiot AI Overviews Caught Telling Users It’s Still 2024" description: "What Year Is It? Google's more-than-frequently-wrong AI Overviews search feature still thinks its 2024. The annoying AI box, which has remained error-riddled since its inception just over a year ago, has confidently been telling users that it's still 2024, as Wired reports. Simply asking AI Overviews if it's 2025, resulted in a head-scratching answer. \"No, it is not 2025,\" the AI responded, leading to widespread mockery on social media. \"wait did google announce a time machine at I/O?\" one user tweeted, referring to the tech company's conference earlier this year. But it didn't take long for Google to interfere and […]" date: "2025-05-30" modified: "2025-05-30" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/google-ai-overviews-still-2024" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Future Society" - "Google" --- # Google Humiliated as Its Idiot AI Overviews Caught Telling Users It’s Still 2024 ![Talk about cutting-edge tech. Google's more-than-frequently-wrong AI Overviews search feature still thinks it's 2024.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## What Year Is It? Talk about cutting-edge tech. Google's more-than-frequently-wrong AI Overviews search feature still thinks it's 2024. The annoying AI box, which has remained error-riddled since its [inception]() just over a year ago, has confidently been telling users that it's still 2024, as [*Wired* reports](). Simply asking AI Overviews if it's 2025 resulted in a head-scratching answer. "No, it is not 2025," the AI responded, leading to widespread mockery on social media. "Wait did Google announce a time machine at I/O?" one user [quipped](), referring to the tech company's conference earlier this month. But it didn't take long for Google to interfere and squash the bug, as [*TechCrunch* found](), with AI Overviews now providing a correct answer to the query. The humiliating instance highlights a persistent and glaring problem plaguing some of the most advanced large language models: frequent hallucinations [remain]() an enormous — and [growing]() — issue, leading to copious confusion online and significantly undercutting the tech's usefulness. ## Rocks and Glue Google's AI Overviews, in particular, has garnered a reputation for consistently leading users astray. The feature made headlines last year for outrageous missteps like telling home chefs to [put glue on their pizza]() or instructing parents to [smear fecal matter]() on a balloon to potty train children. The tech giant has largely resorted to playing an enormous game of whack-a-mole, addressing each embarrassment in turn. As such, Google didn't reveal what caused its AI Overviews to think it was still 2024. "As with all Search features, we rigorously make improvements and use examples like this to update our systems," a spokesperson told *TechCrunch*. "The vast majority of AI Overviews provide helpful, factual information, and we’re actively working on an update to address this type of issue." But there's arguably an immense gulf between being good enough and still spouting utter nonsense. Given the baffling consistency of AI Overviews' errors, Google has its work cut out to stop it from telling users to [eat rocks]() or make up [bizarre explanations of idioms that don't exist](). **More on AI Overviews:** *["You Can’t Lick a Badger Twice": Google's AI Is Making Up Explanations for Nonexistent Folksy Sayings]()* ## 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]()