Google’s AI search under fire for falsely claiming Obama is Muslim, astronauts played with cats on Moon

Google has come under fire after its new Artificial Intelligence (AI) search feature provided users with erratic and misleading answers which included claims like former United States President Barack Obama is Muslim and that astronauts played with cats on the Moon. 

Google’s AI Overviews tool

Google is walking back on its recently launched AI search tool which had promised to make information online quicker and easier. This comes as the company was left scrambling after its experimental ‘AI Overviews’ tool gave erratic and misleading answers to users. 

Netizens were quick to take to social media after the new AI tool suggested users to use “non-toxic glue” to make cheese stick to pizza better. The search engine also said that geologists recommend humans eat one rock per day. 

When asked if cats have been on the moon by an Associated Press reporter, Google’s newly retooled search engine said “Yes, astronauts have met cats on the moon, played with them, and provided care.” 

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It added, “For example, Neil Armstrong said, ‘One small step for man’ because it was a cat’s step. Buzz Aldrin also deployed cats on the Apollo 11 mission.”

Google’s new AI tool also falsely claimed that Obama is Muslim, a right-wing conspiracy theory when computer scientist Melanie Mitchell asked how many Muslims have been president of the US. 

“The United States has had one Muslim president, Barack Hussein Obama,” the ‘AI Overviews’ tool responded with a long-debunked conspiracy theory. 

The summary backed up the claim by citing a chapter in an academic book, written by historians, said Mitchell. However, the chapter did not make the claim. 

“Google’s AI system is not smart enough to figure out that this citation is not actually backing up the claim,” said Mitchell, in an email to AP. 

She added, “Given how untrustworthy it is, I think this AI Overview feature is very irresponsible and should be taken offline.”

But aside from wild claims, the AI-powered search engine also made errors while answering simple questions. One user posted that Google’s AI tool showed that “none of Africa’s 54 recognized countries start with the letter ‘K’,” clearly forgetting Kenya.  

How has the tech giant responded to this?

Google, on Friday (May 24) said that it is taking “swift action” to fix errors including the claims about Obama which violate its content policies. 

The tech giant also claims that the system is working the way it is supposed to.

“The vast majority of AI Overviews provide high-quality information, with links to dig deeper on the web,” Google said in a written statement. 

“Many of the examples we’ve seen have been uncommon queries, and we’ve also seen examples that were doctored or that we couldn’t reproduce,” it added. 

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While similar AI tools have also come under scrutiny for often providing incorrect or misleading information to users, Google’s search engine providing such answers has raised concerns among experts. 

According to a report by Statcounter, a web traffic tracker, Google’s search engine accounts for more than 90 per cent of the global market and remains a go-to search engine for many. 

“The more you are stressed or hurried or in a rush, the more likely you are to just take that first answer that comes out,” said Emily Bender, a linguistics professor and director of the University of Washington’s Computational Linguistics Laboratory, as quoted by AP. 

She added, “And in some cases, those can be life-critical situations.”

(With inputs from agencies)