Though this story has gone very viral already, it tickles me so much that I feel I must be sure to link to it. Among other terrible advice, Google’s AI answers have been telling users to eat rocks.

[Photo credit: Ben Collins]

The reason? Directly or indirectly, is getting its information from America’s finest news source, The Onion.

Apparently, even standard Google results surface this same nonsense. However, in that case the source is more clearly listed, and thus Google itself doesn’t seem quite so confidently wrong.

It’s clear that “trust, but verify” is the bare minimum when it comes to any sort of automated content generation, AI-based or not. “Don’t trust” might be a better bet.

Previously in AI hallucinations: Grok Invents Bizarre Brick-Vandalism Spree ∞