Google AI search tells users to glue pizza and eat rocks – BBC News

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Image source, Getty Images

Author, Liv McMahon
Role, Technology reporter
3 hours ago

Google’s new artificial intelligence (AI) search feature is facing criticism for providing erratic, inaccurate answers.

Its experimental “AI Overviews” tool has told some users searching for how to make cheese stick to pizza better that they could use “non-toxic glue”.

The search engine’s AI-generated responses have also said geologists recommend humans eat one rock per day.

A Google spokesperson told the BBC they were “isolated examples”.

Some of the answers appeared to be based on Reddit comments or articles written by satirical site, The Onion.

But Google insisted the feature was generally working well.

“The examples we’ve seen are generally very uncommon queries, and aren’t representative of most people’s experiences,” it said in a statement.

“The vast majority of AI overviews provide high quality information, with links to dig deeper on the web.”

It said it had taken action where “policy violations” were identified and was using them to refine its systems.

It is not the first time the company has run into problems with its AI-powered products.

In February, it was forced to pause its chatbot Gemini which was criticised for its “woke” responses.

It works by using AI to provide a summary of search results, so users do not have to scroll through a long list of websites to find the information they are seeking.

However, it is likely to be widely used – and trusted – because Google search remains the go-to search engine for many.

According to web traffic tracker, Statcounter, Google’s search engine accounts for more than 90% of the global market.

Google is far from the only tech facing a backlash over its attempts to cram more AI tools into their consumer-facing products.