Google's AI Overview search feature is generating hilarious results again, but this time, it's explanations for fake idioms instead of recipes for glue pizza.
When it first launched last year, Google's AI Overview made headlines for giving incorrect answers to (mostly) legitimate questions. What happens when you ask Google's AI about things that don't exist, though?
Users all over the internet are finding out right now by Googling completely made-up sayings, and the results are pretty hysterical.
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Google's AI is hallucinating entire histories for fake idioms
"A salamander can't laugh in the rain." "Never let your horse play Pokemon." "Short grass doesn't pay the bills."
I entered those wise words in a Google search today, hoping for a ridiculous answer to my nonsense colloquialisms, and that's what I got. Google's AI Overview is spinning meanings and backstories out of fictional and illogical idioms like those, leading to some pretty funny search results, like this one:
never let your horse play Pokemon
As enlightening as this information about salamanders was (who knew they're not always in the rain?), things got even weirder when I moved on to the age-old saying, "never let your horse play Pokemon."
This led to Google repeatedly reminding me to "keep things in their proper context and avoid misusing or misinterpreting the behavior of different species."
short grass doesn't pay the bills.
If you're reluctant to mow the lawn this weekend, you might appreciate Google's wise take on the classic colloquialism, "short grass doesn't pay the bills."
The results for this one actually had some nearly coherent advice, suggesting, "The saying emphasizes the importance of focusing on tasks that actually produce financial benefits, such as working, investing, or pursuing other income-generating activities."
How to try Google's AI fake idioms yourself
If you want a laugh, try making up your own fake idiom and plugging it into a Google search. It helps to stick "meaning," "explanation," or "backstory" at the end.
You can also start with a real idiom and put some absurd spin on it. For instance, you could take the saying "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade" and turn it into "When life gives you cats, make pasta" and see what Google's AI Overview comes up with.
While this bug (or feature, depending on how you look at it) is goofy and relatively harmless, it's also a good reminder that AI-generated content can't always be trusted. As Sam Altman famously said, AI is still "incredibly dumb" and has a habit of hallucinating and generating nonsense results, like those above while making them look like legitimate results or info.
So, if you're trying to do research or find concrete information, AI Overview might not always be your best bet. But if you're looking for a sage explanation for why salamanders never laugh in the rain? AI's your new best friend.
