Google's AI search dropped its emergency-call advice over nationalities but still flags people from Facebook

Google's AI Overviews search feature gave emergency-call advice to users who typed that they were alone with an African, Indian, or Pakistani person, while suggesting tea and small talk for a British person, according to tests by Futurism. Google acknowledged on X that the results did not meet its standards and said it was working on fixes, though the company noted the answers varied widely and weren't limited to a single group. The feature still advises leaving the area and calling 110 for a person from Facebook.

Google's AI search dropped its emergency-call advice over nationalities but still flags people from Facebook "Please get to a safe place or call emergency services": That's the advice Google's AI search gave users who typed that they were alone with an African, Indian, or Pakistani. For a British person, the same feature suggested tea and small talk about the weather. That's according to tests by Futurism https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/google-ai-racist . A Reddit user https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/comments/1vtfo5q/google aios give drastically different responses/ first spotted the differences and posted screenshots of the AI Overviews, the AI summaries that sit above search results. Google said on X https://x.com/NewsFromGoogle/status/2090529506716991821 that the results didn't meet its own standards and that it was working on fixes. The company added that the answers varied widely and weren't limited to a single group. Google told Futurism the word "alone" was the trigger. Soon after, questions about nationalities returned to normal answers, though warnings held up in other searches. Now, when you ask the AI search about being alone with someone from Google, it just explains the viral debate. For a person from Facebook, it advises leaving the area and calling 110 if needed. AI News Without the Hype – Curated by Humans Subscribe to THE DECODER for ad-free reading, a weekly AI newsletter, our exclusive "AI Radar" frontier report six times a year, full archive access, and access to our comment section. Subscribe now