Google finally clarifies AI Overviews misleading response, explains errors and new updates- Details

Google defends AI overviews over odd and misleading responses. Know how Google responded to viral user queries such as “How many rocks should I eat,” or “using glue to get cheese to stick to pizza.”

Google AI Overviews receives improvements due to odd responses, check details. (unsplash)

At the Google I/O event, the company announced a new search feature called “AI Overviews.” Since its launch, the feature has become the talk of every conversation due to its odd and misleading responses. While people started to have doubts over Google's accuracy and AI efforts, the company finally decided to respond to the growing concern and address users of its working and why it generated such questionable responses. Check out what Google said regarding AI Overviews mishappenings. 

Google defends AI overviews

In the blog post, Google first highlights how the AI overviews are gaining traction and how people are appreciating its usage and capabilities. Google said, “people have higher satisfaction with their search results, and they're asking longer, more complex questions that they know Google can now help with.” Later, the blog pointed out the odd overviews and why it is so important to address and clarify why it generates such misleading results. Before getting into the topic, Google briefly explained the workings of AI Overviews. 

Google clearly mentioned that AI overviews do not generate results based on training data but it is powered by a customised language model which is integrated with core web ranking systems. It means that the feature picks information from relevant or high-quality results. Google said, “AI Overviews generally don't “hallucinate” or make things up in the ways that other LLM products might.”  

On the other hand, it also highlights that AI overviews generated odd responses due to “ misinterpreting queries, misinterpreting a nuance of language on the web, or not having a lot of great information available.”

AI Overviews odd responses

In the blog, Google addresses the responses that went viral on social media such as “How many rocks should I eat,” or “using glue to get cheese to stick to pizza.” The company said that the feature is not capable of generating responses for “satirical content” due to an information gap. Therefore, the features link to websites which has such answers to queries or provide reliable first-hand knowledge. 

However, Google also acknowledged that AI Overviews misinterpret language on web pages and that they have integrated improvements for such queries. 

AI Overviews improvements

The company mentioned that they have made a dozen technical improvements to avoid such mishappenings:

• Google added an improved detection mechanism for nonsensical queries and restricted satire and humour content.
• Google has limited the use of user-generated content (UGC) in responses that could potentially provide misleading advice. 
• It has also added restrictions over queries where AI overviews are not helpful or could generate accurate or informative responses. 
• For news and topics related to health, Google will restrict displaying AI Overviews altogether due to the dynamic events and nature. 

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