Episode 35: AI Overviews and Google's AdTech Empire (feat. Safiya Noble), June 10 2024
Jul 3, 2024
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UCLA scholar Safiya Noble discusses Google's AI overviews and its impact on search accuracy. They critique the prioritization of ad sales over information quality and explore AI advancements. The hosts joke about a librarian stuck with Google AI summaries and a Catholic priest's Gatorade baptism blunder. They cover the National Archive banning ChatGPT, LLMs outperforming humans in moral guidance, Taco Bell's AI initiatives, and predictions of AGI by 2027. The episode also questions the credibility of a graph on intelligence hierarchy.
Google's AI summaries lack accuracy and context, raising concerns about information reliability.
Google's transition to AI overviews prioritizes sponsored content over user search intent.
Integration of AI in various sectors showcases the growing influence and adoption of AI technologies.
Deep dives
AI Summaries Misinterpreting Texts
Google's new AI summaries have been giving misleading advice by taking text out of context, including examples like recommending putting glue in pizza sauce or eating rocks per day from a satire article. Despite promises to improve the accuracy of AI-generated summaries, concerns remain about how indiscriminate text hoovering affects information access.
Evolution of Google Search
The podcast discusses Google's shift from its original purpose of helping users find specific web pages to the current AI-overview feature that aims to provide summaries by integrating a custom Gemini model. Criticisms include the obfuscation of search possibilities and the prioritization of sponsored results.
Challenges with AI-Generated Information
The episode delves into the challenges of utilizing AI for summarization tasks, highlighting incidents where AI summaries can present erroneous or nonsensical information. Concerns arise over the potential impact on information trustworthiness and societal perceptions of AI-driven advice.
Google's Handling of AI Overviews Criticism
Google responded to criticism of its AI overviews feature after circulating fake screenshots and odd summaries, indicating a need for user feedback to address inaccuracies. The company's deflection of blame onto users and explanation of data voids raise questions about the feature's reliability.
AI's Influence on Various Industries
The podcast explores the increasing integration of AI in unconventional sectors, such as a Catholic AI priest concept and the notion of Taco Bell becoming an 'AI first' company. These instances reveal the growing pressure on companies to incorporate AI technologies across diverse domains.
You've already heard about the rock-prescribing, glue pizza-suggesting hazards of Google's AI overviews. But the problems with the internet's most-used search engine go way back. UCLA scholar and "Algorithms of Oppression" author Safiya Noble joins Alex and Emily in a conversation about how Google has long been breaking our information ecosystem in the name of shareholders and ad sales.