Google scrambles to improve AI after strange answers and major outage

[KARAH RUCKER]

WE’RE FINALLY GETTING ANSWERS FROM THE SEARCH GIANT THAT SUDDENLY STARTED SPITTING OUT INCORRECT AND EVEN DANGEROUS ANSWERS EARLIER THIS MONTH.

GOOGLE IS NOW ADDRESSING THE INACCURACIES MANY USERS EXPERIENCED WITH ITS A-I GENERATED SEARCH RESULTS.

THE NEWS – COMING RIGHT BEFORE *ANOTHER ISSUE PLUNGED NEWS SEARCH INTO THE DARK AT THE END OF MAY.

AN UNEXPLAINED OUTAGE KNOCKED THE SERVICE OFFLINE FOR MILLIONS OF USERS WORLDWIDE.
WHILE ITS BACK UP AND RUNNING NOW – IT DID LITTLE TO BUILD BACK THE CONFIDENCE THAT HAS BEEN ERODING SINCE THE TECH GIANT BEGAN ROLLING OUT AI-INITIATIVES LAST YEAR.

GOOGLE HAS DECIDED TO SCALE BACK ITS FEATURES AND IMPLEMENT AT LEAST “A DOZEN TECHNICAL IMPROVEMENTS.”

IN A RECENT BLOG POST – GOOGLE’S HEAD OF SEARCH ATTRIBUTED THE ISSUES TO “DATA VOIDS” AND UNCONVENTIONAL SEARCHES CRAFTED TO GENERATE ODD RESULTS.

IN ONE NOW VIRAL EXAMPLE – THE TOOL SUGGESTED USERS ADD NON-TOXIC GLUE TO THEIR PIZZA TO HELP THE CHEESE STICK BETTER.
THE INFORMATION WAS LATER ATTRIBUTED TO A MORE THAN DECADE-OLD REDDIT POST.

GOOGLE SAYS IT CORRECTING THE ISSUE.
THEY CLAIM AI RESULTS GENERALLY ENHANCE USER SATISFACTION WITH GOOGLE SEARCH.

[LIZ REID]
“One area we identified was our ability to interpret nonsensical queries and satirical content. Let’s take a look at an example: “How many rocks should I eat?” Prior to these screenshots going viral, practically no one asked Google that question.”

[KARAH RUCKER]

AS GOOGLE WORKS TO CLEAN-UP ITS SEARCH RESULTS – IT FACES NEW QUESTIONS AFTER A MASSIVE OUTAGE.

ITS GOOGLE NEWS SERVICES SUDDENLY STOPPED WORKING FRIDAY MORNING— LEAVING USERS WITHOUT ANY SEARCH RESULTS UNDER THE “NEWS” TAB.

DOWN-DETECTOR-DOT-COM REPORTED A GLOBAL OUTAGE SPIKE. THE WIDESPREAD DISRUPTION PROMPTING A WAVE OF FRUSTRATION FROM USERS.

AS GOOGLE AGGRESSIVELY PUSHES INTO THE AI MARKET, THE COMPANY’S ABILITY TO MAINTAIN USER TRUST THROUGH DEPENDABLE SERVICES IS PROVING TO BE MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER.

GOOGLE HAS NOT YET CONFIRMED IF ITS NEW AI-ENHANCED FEATURES CONTRIBUTED TO THE DISRUPTION.

I’M KARAH RUCKER.

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