Key Points
- Google is testing AI-generated headlines for news articles in its Discover feed. The AI has already created misleading and factually incorrect headlines.
- One example involved a fake headline claiming a product’s price had been revealed when it had not.
- Google calls it a “small experiment,” but it raises concerns about accuracy and the spread of misinformation.
- The move adds to ongoing tensions between Google and the news publishing industry.
Google is pushing artificial intelligence into all corners of its services, and its latest experiment in the Google Discover feed is raising eyebrows and causing confusion. The company is testing a feature that uses AI to generate new headlines for news articles automatically, but the results are proving unreliable and, in some cases, completely wrong.
Reporters at The Verge first noticed that Discover was showing articles with headlines different from those written by the original publishers. To no one’s surprise, the AI was creating misleading titles.
For instance, an AI-generated headline claimed “Steam Machine price revealed,” but the actual Ars Technica article stated that no price had been announced.
Other users have seen AI-generated summaries pop up alongside original headlines. While Google adds a small disclaimer that the content is “Generated with AI, which can make mistakes,” it begs the question of why Google is using a flawed tool that creates these mistakes in the first place.
When asked for comment, a Google representative described the feature as a “small UI experiment for a subset of Discover users.” However, this experiment taps into the long-standing and often tense relationship between Google and news publishers.
Publishers have long fought for fair compensation when Google uses their content, and having an AI rewrite their headlines without permission is likely to add more fuel to the fire.
Despite the problems, Google is doubling down on AI. The company is also testing ways to more deeply integrate its AI chatbot directly into the main search results page, signaling that more AI-driven changes are on the way, whether users want them or not.
