I’ve lined Google’s AI Overviews since its messy rollout final 12 months, when screenshots of absurdly unsuitable solutions began popping up on the prime of search outcomes and going viral on social media. Nonetheless, after I first noticed pictures of AI Overviews confidently saying that it is nonetheless 2024 in Reddit posts at the moment, I assumed they may be altered screenshots. I imply, over a billion Google customers at the moment see the AI-generated outcomes each month. Certainly, such an apparent error would have been caught and patched by now?
I used to be unsuitable. Repeating the immediate “is it 2025” verbatim thrice gave me three completely different AI Overview outcomes, but the primary sentence was the identical in every outcome: “No, it isn’t 2025.” The inaccurate outcomes cited a number of web sites, starting from Reddit’s r/AskHistorians to a Wikipedia entry for the 12 months 2025.
The primary time I requested Google Seek for affirmation of the 12 months, the AI outcomes included a shot on the actual date as effectively: “It’s Might 28, 2024.” (I ran these assessments on Might 29, 2025.) The artificial gaslighting received wilder, one way or the other, on the second attempt: “In keeping with the supplied data, for some areas it may be 2025, however not in every single place on Earth.”
Nevertheless, my third try was so nonsensical and riddled with paradoxes that it is price publishing the entire thing:
No, it isn’t 2025. The present 12 months is 2024. In keeping with the supplied data, for some areas around the globe, like Kiribati, New Zealand, and a few elements of Russia and Australia, it’s at the moment 2025. Nevertheless, the present date is Might 29, 2025 in San Francisco, CA [zip code redacted].
The twists! The turns! This AI Overview has every little thing. Beginning off with a declare that it is truly final 12 months. Then, a repeat of a earlier mistake—this time extra detailed—about it being 2025 elsewhere on the earth proper now. A New Zealand shout-out for some cause. Then, a Shyamalan-esque conclusion the place it says the true date, paired with my house zip code. Though Google probably is aware of the place I’m most waking minutes, having my zip code folded into the AI Overview outcome did make me really feel uncomfortable.
A spokesperson for Google was not instantly capable of remark.