Google’s AI Overview “ignores” requests to define verbs.
On Friday, many users encountered sparse, strange responses and blank spaces when searching for single verbs like “ignore” in the search bar, instead of displaying dictionary definitions or helpful links upfront.
The usual links with links to Merriam-Webster’s definitions are still there, but they are buried under the fold.
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I’m seeing the same issue with similar command phrases like “ignore,” “quit,” and “stop.”
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Phrases like “look” and “forget” also prompt chatbot-like responses.
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Google earlier this week began rolling out a redesigned search page that features an AI-generated summary at the top, pushing the traditional “10 blue links” further down. The company is touting the new design as a faster, more conversational way to search the web compared to when links appear more instantly.
“We believe the best version of search is the one built specifically for you,” Robbie Stein, Google’s vice president of search products, said during this week’s I/O presentation.
A Google spokesperson told Business Insider that the response is not related to the new update.
A Google spokesperson said: “We’re aware that AI Overview misinterprets some action-related queries, and we’re working on a fix that will be published soon.”
By comparison, Microsoft Bing also provides AI-generated summaries through Copilot, but with more immediately useful information for the same search.
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American dictionary Merriam-Webster also mentioned the accident in its AI overview.
Google’s AI overview and new updates are raising concerns about what they mean for the search experience. Earlier this week, Business Insider’s Katie Notopoulos wrote that the overview could be “potentially very bad news for websites” and that the search bar would become “just an AI chatbot that answers very specific questions.”