Google Defends Poor Results of Its AI Search

Last week, Google rolled out its AI search results to millions of users for them to try. The goal was to provide a better search experience. However, the AI produced various strange results, such as suggesting people to spread glue on pizza to help the cheese stick, and recommending people to eat rocks.

Google quickly removed some inaccurate AI results, but the damage had already been done.

Now, Liz Reid, the head of Google's search department, in a blog post published on Thursday, attributed the inaccurate results to "data gaps" and some strange questions posed by people, and claimed that AI results are improving the "satisfaction" of searches. Reid believes that AI overviews usually do not "create illusions," but sometimes misunderstand existing content on the web.

She wrote, "There's nothing more interesting than millions of people using this feature and conducting many novel searches. We've also seen some meaningless new searches that seem to be aimed at producing incorrect results." She also correctly pointed out that there have been numerous fake screenshots of "AI overviews" circulating online.

Firstly, "Which mammal has the most bones?" This question is quite reasonable for curious children and is not a "strange question." Secondly, Google enabled this feature for millions of people, resulting in a lot of opposition and even spawning articles explaining how to disable it.

Reid's blog also explains how Google is fixing this feature by limiting the display of AI overviews for "meaningless" queries and sarcastic content. This is a good adjustment, as many people were surprised that the AI results did not filter out well-known satirical websites like "The Onion" and a Reddit user named "fucksmith."

Reid's blog also compares AI overviews with another long-standing feature of Google Search called "Featured Snippets," which highlights information from relevant web pages without using generative AI. According to Reid, the "accuracy" of Featured Snippets is "on par" with AI overviews.

Ultimately, Google's introduction of AI overviews was another PR blunder for the company. Meanwhile, Google is competing with AI search startups like OpenAI and Perplexity, with Perplexity rumored to be valued at $3 billion.

If Google wants to compete, it must act quickly. But it also needs to regain the trust of users. After AI overviews suggested that we all eat Elmer's glue (a children's adhesive, not edible), this trust may be difficult to restore.