- Google's AI Overview feature suggested that users put glue on their pizza to stop the cheese from falling off.
- The feature uses AI to generate summaries, but it also produces some inaccurate responses.
- Google says such errors are rare and that most summaries provide high-quality information.
Google's new search feature, “AI Overviews,” doesn't seem to be working.
The tool provides AI-generated summaries of search results, and when a user searched for “cheese won't stick to pizza,” it appeared to tell them to put glue on their pizza.
A screenshot of the summary generated by the tool shared on X shows the response “Cheese can slide off pizza for a variety of reasons” along with a recommendation to try adding “about ⅛ cup of a non-toxic adhesive to the sauce for extra stickiness.”
According to another X user, the suggestion appears to be based on a Reddit comment from 11 years ago and was likely intended as a joke.
Google began testing the AI Overviews feature in the US and UK earlier this year, and announced it would roll it out more broadly by the end of 2024. Head of Search Liz Reid introduced the feature at the company's I/O conference last week, saying, “Google will Google you.”
The pizza glue advice highlights the pitfalls of using AI features to find information: As Business Insider's Peter Kafka points out in other cases, one of the problems with generative AI engines is that they make things up on their own.
Kafka used an AI summary to ask if the Tower of London was damaged by German bombs in World War II. The summary confused the monument with the clock tower known as Big Ben. The summary said “the roof and dial were damaged in air raids,” which is incorrect.
Social media users have also shared other examples of when the AI Overview generated inaccurate responses, such as when it said “dogs have played in the NHL.”
A Google representative previously told BI that such examples “are extremely rare queries and are not representative of the majority of people's experiences,” adding that “the vast majority of AI summaries provide high-quality information” and that the company conducted “extensive testing” before releasing the feature.
Google did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment, made outside of regular working hours.
On February 28, Axel Springer, the parent company of Business Insider, along with 31 other media groups, filed a $2.3 billion lawsuit against Google in a Dutch court, alleging damages caused by the company's advertising practices.
