Google’s new AI overviews in search feature was meant to pull information from the internet in order to respond to questions accurately and at greater speeds, but users are complaining that the feature is serving incorrect and dangerous responses or taking the results from unvetted sources.
Users began sharing screenshots of what they claimed were AI-powered overviews gone wrong on Google. One example alleged that Google’s new search feature recommended adding glue to pizza for a stickier cheese sauce, reported tech outlet The Verge.
The search engine giant’s AI overviews feature has been available for months as part of its experimental Search Labs, but the company warned that AI overviews may be limited in terms of quality and availability.
During the I/O event this month, Google announced that AI search would be rolled out to all users, starting with the U.S. This was despite the underlying generative AI technology - Gemini, in Google’s case - still being largely experimental and prone to making mistakes.
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“AI Overviews and more” is an experiment in Search Labs that lets you see AI Overviews on more Google searches and offers access to additional generative AI features in Search,” said Google in a post, adding that the experiment was previously known as SGE (Search Generative Experience).
During the I/O event, Google CEO Sundar Pichai hailed the AI-powered search feature and expressed confidence in it.
“In the past year, we’ve answered billions of queries as part of our Search Generative Experience. People are using it to Search in entirely new ways, and asking new types of questions, longer and more complex queries, even searching with photos, and getting back the best the web has to offer,” he said in an official post.
Apart from fears of false information or even dangerous advice being spread through the new search feature, there are concerns about how Google may monetise AI overviews in the future and place advertisements there.
While there are several fixes available in order to turn off the AI overviews, Google warned that completely removing the feature may not be possible.
