OPINION: Google I/O has traditionally been an occasion used to showcase the newest updates coming to Android. Nonetheless, this week, Google selected to deal with AI as an alternative, and particularly the way it will change how we navigate the net.
Google’s search engine is arguably an important asset that the corporate owns, performing because the launchpad to make Google the expertise big it’s in the present day. In response to Statista, Google dominates a whopping 82% of the desktop search engine market share, as of January 2024. In second place is Bing, with simply 11% of the share.
And but regardless of its dominance, Google has introduced that will probably be drastically overhauling its well-liked search engine, by integrating a brand new function referred to as AI Overview.
This new function leverages superior synthetic intelligence expertise to generate distinctive solutions for a lot of search queries. Because the solutions are generated by Google they are going to be embedded into the outcomes of the search engine, that means you received’t must click on on any hyperlink to truly discover the knowledge you’re in search of.
I can definitely perceive the enchantment of this for the common consumer, as you’re in a position to get all the info you want extra shortly, whereas additionally having all of it neatly summarised so that you don’t should scroll by strains of textual content. Google even presents you the choice to simplify the abstract even additional, and even break it down into extra element.
That every one sounds nice on paper, however I’ve bought a whole lot of considerations about the place Google is getting all this info from. Google does no less than give credit score to the web sites and articles that it’s harvesting the knowledge from, however given the character of AI, it’s not all the time good at appropriately summarising that info.
Google has additionally been recognized to take info from unreliable sources, after which current incorrect info as its ‘Featured Snippet’ within the search outcomes. You may try the video from Vox under, which showcases a few of these important errors, together with a publish that implies dinosaurs by no means existed, and had been merely a assemble to indoctrinate kids.
That video is admittedly seven years outdated now, and Google will argue that it’s improved its search outcomes considerably in that time-frame, however there are a couple of main errors of Google’s new AI Overview already going viral.
Whereas I can’t confirm this search end result, one publish on X (previously Twitter) claims that Google’s AI Overview prompt that anybody affected by kidney stones ought to drink urine each 24 hours to assist them go.
Having medical recommendation that’s unvetted by an expert or professional is extremely harmful, and Google is operating the danger of doing this by rolling out its new AI Overview function. In actual fact, even past medical recommendation, Google is unable to make sure that all the knowledge it’s harvesting is coming from an professional.
Google just lately penned a take care of Reddit, permitting the tech firm to make use of posts from numerous boards to coach its AI. Throughout Google I/O, an illustration video additionally confirmed Quora pop up as one of many sources of data used for the reply generated by AI Overview.
Boards are a precious place to get info from different folks throughout the net, however since anybody can publish with none skilled data or fact-checking course of, there is no such thing as a option to assure that what you’re studying is right. That’s utterly positive in the event you’re conscious of this when scrolling by solutions in Reddit and Quora, nevertheless it turns into much more harmful when the knowledge is introduced as being factual from a trusted supply reminiscent of Google.
After all, that’s to not say you wouldn’t nonetheless discover incorrect info when utilizing Google’s search engine and clicking on a hyperlink to go to a web site. The distinction right here, although, is that the reader could make up their very own choice as to how reliable the knowledge is.
For instance, you’re way more more likely to suppose the knowledge is correct when studying it on the BBC versus an novice weblog. However with Google, many individuals could incorrectly assume that Google is simply as dependable as any distinguished publication for offering factual info, which sadly isn’t the case.
With the world vast internet already rife with misinformation, I’m rising very involved that Google’s push into AI received’t really remedy this drawback, however intensify it as an alternative. A solution generated by AI is all the time going to be extra liable to error than one written and fact-checked by an skilled journalist, and Google wants to know that shortly earlier than it damages the standard and credibility of its search engine.
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