Google Admits Its AI Overviews Search Feature Screwed Up
WiredJUN 2024
Google Search Tweaks AI Overviews After Misleading Responses
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The Spin
Narrative A
The technology behind AI Overviews has intrinsic flaws that make it unsuitable for wide release. While the technology is able to produce fluent language, it's less effective at producing accurate information. As long as large-language models use probability to produce their text, they'll always run the risk of being misinformation machines.
Narrative B
Sadly, Google was the victim, not the originator, of misinformation in this case. Satirical and fake screenshots claiming that AI Overviews endorsed dangerous and offensive claims were shared widely, tarnishing Google's reputation. The internal testing has shown that only small tweaks are needed to keep it safe, effective, and accurate.