Posters are digging up even more wacky results from Google’s new AI Overview tool—with one search about cheese not sticking to pizza suggesting searchers should mix “⅛ cup of non-toxic glue to the sauce to give it more tackiness.”
Rather than being a complete hallucination, it looks like Google’s AI Overview tool is pulling the information from an actual, albeit dubious, source: an 11-year-old comment in a Reddit thread about how to prevent your cheese from sliding off your slice.
“It’ll also add a little unique flavor,” noted u/fucksmith in their original post. “I like Elmer’s school glue, but any glue will work as long as it’s non-toxic.”
u/fucksmith didn’t respond to questions about what they think about their comment being featured at the top of Google’s new big AI tool.
The resurfacing of a long-defunct riff from an ancient Reddit thread was quickly noticed.
“This reddit comment has been picked up by Google’s AI, and currently Google lists mixing 1/8 cup of non-toxic glue with your pizza sauce to help the cheese stick and add extra tackiness,” posted u/LonelyWheel.
The original comment chain say then quickly filled up with other posters sharing their own dubious suggestions from Google’s tool.
Some redditors took in the import of the moment, sardonically noting that it was a pivotal turning point in the development of artificial general intelligence.
“I love being able to witness pivotal moments in history like AI being trained on shitposts from 11 years ago and recommending people eat glue. I was born at exactly the right time,” posted u/g0ddess_cherry.
“If this is what ‘AGI’ is being trained on we’re cooked,” wrote u/Spooky_Pizza.
“But at least the cheese won’t fall off our pizzas,” riffed sacundim.
Google didn’t immediately respond to questions about how high they’re weighting Reddit comments for their AI responses. But after searches on Wednesday were generating wacky responses from the AI Overview tool about whether animals can play professional sports, they told the Daily Dot in a statement that those answers were “extremely rare queries, and aren’t representative of most people’s experiences.”
“The vast majority of AI Overviews provide high-quality information, with links to dig deeper on the web,” added Google in the statement. “We conducted extensive testing before launching this new experience, and will use these isolated examples as we continue to refine our systems overall.”
While the old comment about glue on pizza couldn’t have been an intentional troll from the past, back in February redditors plotted ways to feed AI with fake posts after the company announced a $60 million deal with Google to feed the company content to train its AI.
But now it looks like redditors don’t even need to try to mess up AI.
Reddit inked a similar deal with Open AI last week, driving up the company’s stock.
“Reddit has become one of the internet’s largest open archives of authentic, relevant, and always up-to-date human conversations about anything and everything,” said Reddit CEO Steve Huffman in a statement announcing the deal.
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