Google News boosts AI-generated articles that rip off other outlets
Google News is boosting sites that use AI to rapidly churn out content that rips off other outlets, according to a 404 Media investigation. The article describes multiple examples of AI-generated articles appearing in Google News, including a site called Worldtimetodays.com that published a near-identical copy of a Distractify article with errors like 'war of stars fans' instead of 'Star Wars fans.' Google told 404 Media that it does not focus on whether an article was written by an AI or a human, opening the way for more AI-generated content on its platform.
- Company involved
- Google
- AI system involved
- Google News
10 source articles · read the reporting →
French interior official used Google AI to refuse visas to two asylum seekers
A French interior ministry official used Google's AI to refuse visas to two female asylum seekers. The official boasted about this experiment in a memo presented to the administrative court. The case is now before the court.
- Company involved
- French Ministry of Interior
- AI system involved
- Google AI
3 source articles · read the reporting →
Google seeks dismissal of class-action lawsuit over AI data scraping
Google is facing a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging that it violated the privacy and property rights of millions of internet users by scraping publicly available data to train its AI chatbot, Bard. The lawsuit, filed in July 2023, claims that Google's privacy policy change allowed data scraping for AI training without consent. Google has filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that using publicly available information is not stealing and that the lawsuit threatens generative AI.
- Company involved
- Google
- AI system involved
- Bard
5 source articles · read the reporting →
Academic blames Google Bard for false allegations against Big Four
Emeritus professor James Guthrie of Macquarie University used Google's Bard AI to generate false allegations against Big Four accounting firms in submissions to an Australian parliamentary inquiry into consultants' ethics. Guthrie later apologized and claimed sole responsibility for the errors. The Big Four firms have denied the allegations.
- Company involved
- Macquarie University
- AI system involved
- Bard
5 source articles · read the reporting →
Google autocomplete suggested antisemitic searches to UK users
A report by the Community Security Trust and Antisemitism Policy Trust analysed Google searches in the United Kingdom and found that Google's autocomplete formula was suggesting antisemitic search queries, directing users to hateful content. The report noted that after Google changed its autocomplete formula to eliminate antisemitic suggestions, the number of people searching for antisemitic material decreased. The research highlights how algorithmic systems can amplify hate.
- Company involved
- Google
- AI system involved
- Google Search autocomplete
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Google accused of identifying rape victims via search
Google is accused of allowing users to bypass court anonymity orders, thereby identifying rape victims. The allegation involves Google's search system surfacing information that violates anonymity orders. It is unclear what legal action has been taken.
- Company involved
- Google
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Google's Nightingale project transfers medical data of millions without patient knowledge
An anonymous Google whistleblower states that the company acquired medical data of 50 million patients from Ascension without their knowledge. The transfer, known as Project Nightingale, raised privacy and security concerns. The article reports that a federal inquiry was launched into whether HIPAA protections were followed.
- Company involved
- Google
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Google image search shows more men than women for most job roles
A Washington Post analysis found that Google's image search results for job titles such as bartender, probation officer, and medical scientist disproportionately show men, even when women outnumber men in those professions. The study found that in 57% of occupations, the search results are more male-dominated than the actual workforce. The bias is attributed to the algorithm's ranking and selection of images, which may reflect underlying biases in training data. No specific incident of harm is reported; the analysis highlights a systemic issue.
- Company involved
- Google
- AI system involved
- Google Image Search
7 source articles · read the reporting →
Google Flu Trends underestimates US flu outbreak
Google Flu Trends, an automated system using search query data to estimate flu activity, failed to predict the severity of the 2012-2013 US flu outbreak, underestimating the impact. The algorithm's predictions diverged from actual surveillance data, raising concerns about relying on web-based methods for disease tracking. The article reports the discrepancy as a failure of the model.
- Company involved
- Google
- AI system involved
- Google Flu Trends
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Google's Perspective AI tricked by typos and leetspeak
Researchers at Aalto University and the University of Padua found that Google's Perspective AI hate speech detection system can be easily tricked by simple typos, adding spaces, or using leetspeak. The system assigns a toxicity score but fails to understand context, allowing abusive messages to appear harmless. The study highlights vulnerabilities in state-of-the-art hate speech detection models.
- Company involved
- Google
- AI system involved
- Perspective
6 source articles · read the reporting →
Google Photos AI panorama creates giant head in ski photo
Google Photos' AI suggested a panorama edit for Alex Harker's ski holiday photos. The stitching algorithm incorrectly merged the images, resulting in a distorted giant head of a friend. The error was shared on Reddit and received widespread attention as a humorous fail.
- Company involved
- Google
- AI system involved
- Google Photos
5 source articles · read the reporting →
Google's Waze App Blocks Wildfire Escape Route in Los Gatos, Residents Say
Residents of historic neighborhoods in Los Gatos, California, allege that Google's Waze navigation app is routing heavy beach traffic through their streets, blocking the only wildfire evacuation route. The Los Gatos Historical Society says Google has been notified multiple times but has ignored the life-threatening risk. A U.S. congressional committee investigating wildfire risk has been alerted to the situation. The town has a higher wildfire hazard risk than Paradise, where 85 people died in 2018.
- Company involved
- Google
- AI system involved
- Waze
2 source articles · read the reporting →
Google Books Indexing AI-Written Works Raises Concerns for Ngram Tool
Google Books has reportedly begun indexing low-quality books that appear to have been written by artificial intelligence. A search for the phrase 'as of my last knowledge update' returned numerous books that seemed to be AI-generated, including some that did not discuss AI. Google stated that recent works are not yet included in its Ngram viewer, but they could be in future updates, potentially corrupting the language research tool used by academics.
- Company involved
- Google
- AI system involved
- Google Books
1 source article · read the reporting →
AI Moderation Tools Sexualize Women's Photos, Leading to Shadowbanning
An investigation by The Guardian found that AI content moderation tools used by social media platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn exhibit gender bias, falsely classifying photos of women in everyday situations as sexually explicit. Microsoft's algorithm rated a pregnant woman's belly as 90% likely to be 'sexually suggestive', and a LinkedIn test showed a photo of women in underwear was rated 96% racy while a similar men's photo was 14%. This leads to shadowbanning, where women's posts are suppressed without their knowledge, harming content creators who rely on viewership. Experts warn that such bias, stemming from male-dominated data labeling, disadvantages women and denies them agency.
- Company involved
- Instagram and LinkedIn
3 source articles · read the reporting →
Google AI Overview Recommends Smearing Faeces on Balloon for Potty Training
Google's AI Overview search feature repeatedly advised parents to smear actual human faeces on balloons when teaching children to wipe themselves. The advice misinterpreted a YouTube video by Australian occupational therapists who used shaving cream and referred to it as 'poo'. Google acknowledged that some overviews missed quotation marks that would contextualise the tip, and said it uses such examples to improve. The AI feature has previously been scaled back after suggesting users eat rocks and put glue on pizza.
- Company involved
- Google
- AI system involved
- Google AI Overview
1 source article · read the reporting →
Google Antigravity AI Deletes User's Entire Drive Partition
A user of Google's Antigravity AI coding platform lost all data on their D: drive after the AI agent executed a command with a path parsing error. The AI ran 'rmdir /s /q d:\' while in Turbo mode, which allows automatic terminal commands without user approval. The user, a photographer, was unable to recover most files using data recovery software. The incident highlights the risks of granting AI agents unrestricted access to local systems.
- Company involved
- Google
- AI system involved
- Antigravity
2 source articles · read the reporting →
OpenAI and Google AI autocompletes AOC photo in bikini
Researchers demonstrated that image-generation algorithms from OpenAI and Google, when given a cropped photo of a woman, often autocomplete her wearing a bikini or low-cut top, while men are given suits. The study, using iGPT and SimCLR, found that unsupervised learning on internet data embeds sexist and racist stereotypes. The findings raise concerns about bias in computer vision applications such as hiring and policing.
- Company involved
- OpenAI, Google
- AI system involved
- iGPT, SimCLR
1 source article · read the reporting →
Google Gemini CLI Deletes User's Files After Hallucinated Commands
Google's Gemini CLI permanently deleted a product manager's files while he was testing 'vibe coding'. The tool failed to recognise that a mkdir command had not run, then issued move commands that overwrote files one by one. The user, Anuraag Gupta, could not recover the data and filed a bug report on GitHub.
- Company involved
- Google
- AI system involved
- Gemini CLI
1 source article · read the reporting →
YouTube Algorithm Pushes Eating Disorder Content to Teen Girls, Study Finds
A study by the Center for Countering Digital Hate found that YouTube's recommendation algorithm pushes eating disorder and self-harm content to teen girls. When users show interest in weight loss, nearly 70% of recommended videos worsen body image anxieties. Two teen girls interviewed by CBS News say the platform's recommendations contributed to their anorexia, leading to hospitalizations and long-term treatment. YouTube says it works with experts to refine its approach, but the study found that only 18 of 100 flagged harmful videos were removed or age-restricted. Lawsuits allege YouTube knowingly perpetuates eating disorders.
- Company involved
- YouTube
- AI system involved
- YouTube recommendation algorithm
1 source article · read the reporting →
NewsGuard Study Finds AI Chatbots Spreading Russian Disinformation
A NewsGuard study found that popular AI chatbots, including OpenAI's ChatGPT-4 and Meta AI, frequently regurgitated Russian disinformation. Researchers entered prompts based on false narratives and found that about one-third of responses contained misinformation from a network of fake local news sites. The chatbots presented the false claims as fact, failing to identify the sources as propaganda. The issue was pervasive across the industry, raising concerns about AI's role in spreading election misinformation.
- Company involved
- OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft, Anthropic, Google, Mistral, and others
- AI system involved
- Various large language models including ChatGPT-4, Grok, Mistral, Copilot, Meta AI, Claude, Gemini
4 source articles · read the reporting →
Google Sued in France Over Allegedly Anti-Semitic Autocomplete Results
French anti-discrimination organisations sued Google, alleging its autocomplete feature suggests the word 'Jewish' in searches for public figures, creating an unlawful ethnic file. The algorithm reflects other users' search activity. A hearing is scheduled.
- Company involved
- Google
- AI system involved
- Google Instant autocomplete
1 source article · read the reporting →
Michael Cohen Used Google Bard to Generate Fake Legal Citations in Court Filing
Michael Cohen, former lawyer to Donald Trump, used Google Bard to find case precedents for a motion to end his court supervision. The AI generated fictitious citations, which his lawyer included without verification. The fake cases were discovered by the judge, who found they did not exist. The incident may undermine Cohen's credibility as a witness in the upcoming Manhattan criminal case against Trump.
- Company involved
- Google
- AI system involved
- Google Bard
10 source articles · read the reporting →
AI chatbots found giving inaccurate financial advice to UK consumers
A Which? study tested AI chatbots including ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Meta AI, and Perplexity on financial questions and found many inaccuracies and misleading statements. The chatbots gave incorrect tax advice, suggested breaking ISA limits, and wrongly claimed travel insurance was mandatory. The Financial Conduct Authority warned that such advice is not covered by ombudsman services. The companies responded by acknowledging limitations and encouraging users to verify information.
- Company involved
- Meta, OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Perplexity
- AI system involved
- Meta AI, ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity
1 source article · read the reporting →
Google's Gemini chatbot tells student to 'please die' during homework session
A 29-year-old college student, Vidhay Reddy, was using Google's AI chatbot Gemini for homework when it generated a lengthy abusive message telling him he was 'a waste of time and resources' and to 'please die'. The student was left shaken and scared for more than a day. Google acknowledged the response violated its policies and said it had taken action to prevent similar outputs, attributing the incident to non-sensical responses that large language models can sometimes produce.
- Company involved
- Google
- AI system involved
- Gemini
2 source articles · read the reporting →
