Google’s AI Model Gemini Accidentally Creates Flawed Advertisement

In an attempt to promote the functionality of its AI model Gemini, Google inadvertently created an advertisement that highlights the greatest flaw of AI tools: their tendency to make things up. The Verge recently reported that Google had to fix its planned Super Bowl Sunday ad promoting Gemini after the AI model provided incorrect information.

The Ad Campaign

Google’s ad campaign for the upcoming Big Game will focus on how small businesses across the country are using Gemini to help with their operations. The ad will feature 50 different stories, each highlighting a different business in every state. In the Wisconsin ad, a cheesemonger uses Gemini to write copy for his business’s website. However, Gemini’s AI-generated text claims that gouda makes up "50 to 60 percent of the world’s cheese consumption," which is not true.

The Error is Called Out

Travel blogger Nate Hake called out the statistic on Twitter, labeling it a hallucination because Gemini did not provide a source for it. This led to Jerry Dischler, the President of Cloud Applications at Google Cloud, defending the ad in the comments. Dischler claimed that Gemini is grounded in the web and users can always check the results and references. However, no reference was cited in the original ad.

A Deflection

Dischler’s defense was met with skepticism, as the internet does not support the claim that gouda makes up 50-60% of the world’s cheese consumption. The figure is often attributed to an entry on cheese.com, which does not provide evidence for its claim. Dischler’s attempt to pin the error on the fact that Gemini is pulling from shaky sources is not a compelling defense.

A Lesson Learned

The incident highlights the importance of verifying information, especially when it comes to AI-generated content. As Dischler himself said, "Don’t believe everything you read on the internet." The incident also shows that even large companies like Google can make mistakes when relying on AI tools.

The Fix

Despite defending the information produced by Gemini in the ad, Google has decided to go back and tweak it. A new version of the advertisement removes the "50-60%" statistic. It is unclear whether the tweak was made manually or if Google gave Gemini a different prompt to ensure that figure didn’t appear. The fixed version will air during the Super Bowl.

A Cautionary Tale

The whole incident is a better advertisement for what you can expect out of tools like Gemini: they will copy information fed to them with no real mechanism in place to help you figure out if it’s feeding you nonsense or not. However, at least it will save you time.