Google's AI wrongly said a restaurant served brunch
What's the big deal? Well...
When Google debuted AI overviews in search results about a year ago, the company conceded that AI can and will make mistakes. To paraphrase: It’s new, it’s somewhat experimental, and we’re all sort of figuring out how this thing works. But recently I heard a story about the impact on a real restaurant when the bots get it wrong. I’m sharing it here, because I think it balances our excitement for technological progress while flagging the imperfections that cause trouble for restaurants.
A few weeks ago, I moderated a conference panel about artificial intelligence in restaurants. During that session, one audience member1 shared a story about their experience with AI:
Recently, they said, their one-location restaurant got some frustrated feedback from diners trying to visit for weekend brunch. The restaurant’s staff were confused because the business had never, in its years-long history, offered brunch. It couldn’t parse the sudden interest.
Eventually, the team realized Google’s AI overview, appearing at the top of the results page for some searches, was confidently telling searchers that the restaurant served brunch. That discovery led them to the actual culprit: a years-old, incorrect blog post from a local visitor’s bureau promoting the restaurant’s nonexistent brunch service.
Immediately after hearing the story, the vibe among the restaurant pros seated in the conference theater shifted to something like, We didn’t ask for this. Why is it happening?