--- title: "Google Caught Manually Taking Down Bizarre AI Answers" description: "Google manually removed AI-powered search results from pages where it was caught giving bizarre and incorrect information to search users." date: "2024-05-28" modified: "2024-05-28" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/google-bizarre-ai-answers" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Google" tags: - "ai search" - "Google" - "google ai" - "the digest" --- # Google Caught Manually Taking Down Bizarre AI Answers ![Google manually removed AI-powered search results from pages where it was caught giving bizarre and incorrect information to search users.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Control-Alt-Delete Google manually removed AI-powered search results from pages where it was caught giving bizarre and incorrect information to search users, [*The Verge* reports](). Last week, on the heels of Google's all-in-on-AI I/O conference, netizens and journalists alike took to social media in droves to share screenshots of Google's new "AI Overview" — in short, a new AI function tacked to the top of Google search pages that gobbles up search results and paraphrases what it finds — spitting out head-scratching, [false](), and in some cases downright conspiratorial [answers to search queries](). Case in point, the AI feature was caught telling users that they should try [putting glue on pizza](), a recommendation the AI sourced from an 11-year-old Reddit comment posted by a user who goes by "Fucksmith." The AI was also caught telling people they should [eat rocks](), and even [rehashing]() [false]() "Birther" conspiracy claims that former President Barack Obama is secretly Muslim. But now, these particular mistakes, among many others, are gone. Per *The Verge*, in what can only be described as a Whac-A-Mole-inspired strategy, Google quickly moved to manually remove AI Overview from these specific, problem-stirring queries. In short, it's a short-sighted, band-aid fix that arguably fails to address far more persistent flaws of the tech — and Google has its work cut out to ensure the reputation of its flagship product doesn't take on any more damage. ## Keep Scrolling To be clear, it's a good thing that Google is taking AI Overview off of search pages where it's known to give bad information. But in each of the instances referenced above, the feature came to incorrect conclusions by either hallucinating false information or sourcing its answer from woefully unreliable sources. These mistakes speak to reliability and accuracy problems that plague generative AI products across the tech industry. Manual take-downs don't address this core issue, and to that end, the method isn't exactly scalable either as Google [runs billions of searches]() every day. For its part, Google told *The Verge* that it's "taking swift action" to remove AI Overview "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." But whether Google will indeed be able to meaningfully address these core problems remains to be seen. Google CEO Sundar Pichai, however, is optimistic about the future of AI-enhanced search. "Are we making progress? Yes, we are," [he told *The Verge*]() last week. "We have definitely made progress when we look at metrics on factuality year on year. We are all making it better, but it's not solved." **More on Google and AI:** [*CEO of Google Says It Has No Solution for Its AI Providing Wildly Incorrect Information*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()