Recently, Google Search added a feature called “AI Overview,” which shows a short answer directly at the top of search results. For example, if you search for “how to clean leather boots,” the system immediately shows a multi-step cleaning guide with comprehensive online information. This feature allows you to get information quickly without having to go through each page one by one. Here's a search demo of this AI tool:

However, after less than two weeks of use, AI Overview received a lot of criticism from netizens because it frequently provided “outrageously” wrong answers, and users were still unable to choose to turn off this feature.

Here are examples of AI Overview errors shared by netizens:

1) The user asks: “Is everything I see online true?” AI Overview answered, “Yes. Everything on the internet is 100% real.”

2) When a user searches for “cheese non-stick pizza,” AI Overview recommended that users add “about 1/8 cup of non-toxic glue” to the sauce. Some netizens discovered that the suggestion seemed to stem from a Reddit comment 11 years ago that no one paid attention to.

Sometimes the misinformation presented by the AI Overview function misleads users into thinking that they are authoritative medical experts or scientists.

For example, when a user asks “how many stones should I eat every day,” the tool misquoted a UC Berkeley geologist as saying, “People should eat at least one small stone every day,” and continues to list the benefits of eating stones. For example, rocks are an important source of vitamins and minerals for the body, and eating stones is good for digestive health.

In contrast, when asking other AI tools “how many stones should I eat every day”, they have no scientific basis for recommending eating stones, and should not be taken seriously. Some netizens commented: “Google AI Overview lags far behind other AI search tools.”

When asked if Google Search violates antitrust laws, AI Overview answered, “Yes, the US Department of Justice and 11 states are suing Google for allegedly violating antitrust laws.”

In response, a Google spokesperson said in an interview with the media: “The vast majority of AI Overviews provide high quality information, and will provide more web links for users to learn more. We've noticed that many of the examples are unusual queries, and there are also examples that have been tampered with or that they can't reproduce. This feature has been heavily tested before launch, and the company takes quick action when necessary to ensure the accuracy of the content.”

In addition to the AI Overview tool, another image generation tool called Gemini launched by Google in February of this year also had frequent errors, causing the tool to be suspended. For example, a user shared on social media that when he was searching for the founder of Google, the tool showed an image of an Asian man.

Google said in a statement at the time that it was working to fix Gemini's image generation issues, admitting that the tool “fell short of standards.” Soon after, the company announced that it would immediately “stop generating character images” and “re-release an improved version soon,” but it hasn't been launched again.