Google on Friday said that it had taken down an incorrect answer provided by a new artificial intelligence feature that stated Barack Obama was the first Muslim US president.
The answer in the “AI Overview” summary on the search engine showed up when users asked “how many Muslim presidents has the US had?”
The issue was highlighted by users on X and replicated by The National.
“This particular overview violated our policies, and we’ve taken it down,” a Google representative told The National in an email.
The new “AI Overview” did, however, correctly show that the US has not had a Muslim president when The National entered the same query without a question mark.
Mr Obama, the 44th US president, is not Muslim and practises Christianity. Racist right-wing conspiracy theorists have for years alleged he secretly practised Islam.
Google last week announced it would unveil its AI-generated summarised search results, AI Overview, in the US following a testing period in the UK.
“The vast majority of AI Overviews provide high-quality information, with links to dig deeper on the web,” the Google representative said.
“We conducted extensive testing before launching this new experience, and as with other features we've launched in Search.”
The summaries by generative AI are created and customised by a machine learning model that bases its information from sources already on the internet and from Google's Knowledge Graph, a collection of relevant information assigned to specific keywords and topics for its search engine results.
The incorrect AI Overview search result showing Mr Obama was the first US Muslim president used as its source an Oxford University Press-published book chapter titled “Barack Hussein Obama: America's First Muslim President?”
It also referenced a Wikipedia page on religious affiliations of US presidents, which mentions the conspiracy theory that Mr Obama is Muslim.
The new generative AI summaries are now showing up at the top of the page – above “featured snippets”, “sponsored” advertisements and relevant web results – after a user enters a query or searches keywords.
Social media users in the US posted several other shocking or incorrect AI Overview results suggesting, for example, that geologists say humans should eat a rock a day as well as articles saying that putting glue on pizza can make cheese stick better.
The Google representative said that these examples are “uncommon queries” and claimed some shared online “were doctored” experiences that it could not replicate.
“We're taking swift action where appropriate under our content policies, and using these examples to develop broader improvements to our systems, some of which have already started to roll out,” the representative added.
Google said it is constantly launching thousands of improvements for its search engine each year, as well as patching such inaccuracies or issues that arise.
The company also has an evaluation process and testing system to make sure that its AI Overview results meet quality and safety standards.
Huddersfield Town permanent signings:
- Steve Mounie (striker): signed from Montpellier for £11 million
- Tom Ince (winger): signed from Derby County for £7.7m
- Aaron Mooy (midfielder): signed from Manchester City for £7.7m
- Laurent Depoitre (striker): signed from Porto for £3.4m
- Scott Malone (defender): signed from Fulham for £3.3m
- Zanka (defender): signed from Copenhagen for £2.3m
- Elias Kachunga (winger): signed for Ingolstadt for £1.1m
- Danny WIlliams (midfielder): signed from Reading on a free transfer
Meghan%20podcast
%3Cp%3EMeghan%20Markle%2C%20the%20wife%20of%20Prince%20Harry%2C%20launched%20her%20long-awaited%20podcast%20Tuesday%2C%20with%20tennis%20megastar%20Serena%20Williams%20as%20the%20first%20guest.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EThe%20Duchess%20of%20Sussex%20said%20the%2012-part%20series%2C%20called%20%22Archetypes%2C%22%20--%20a%20play%20on%20the%20name%20of%20the%20couple's%20oldest%20child%2C%20Archie%20--%20would%20explore%20the%20female%20experience.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ELast%20year%20the%20couple%20told%20Oprah%20Winfrey%20that%20life%20inside%20%22The%20Firm%22%20had%20been%20miserable%2C%20and%20that%20they%20had%20experienced%20racism.%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%22I%20don't%20ever%20remember%20personally%20feeling%20the%20negative%20connotation%20behind%20the%20word%20ambitious%2C%20until%20I%20started%20dating%20my%20now-husband%2C%22%20she%20told%20the%20tennis%20champion.%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
The biog
DOB: 25/12/92
Marital status: Single
Education: Post-graduate diploma in UAE Diplomacy and External Affairs at the Emirates Diplomatic Academy in Abu Dhabi
Hobbies: I love fencing, I used to fence at the MK Fencing Academy but I want to start again. I also love reading and writing
Lifelong goal: My dream is to be a state minister
No Shame
Lily Allen
(Parlophone)
if you go
The flights
Emirates fly direct from Dubai to Houston, Texas, where United have direct flights to Managua. Alternatively, from October, Iberia will offer connections from Madrid, which can be reached by both Etihad from Abu Dhabi and Emirates from Dubai.
The trip
Geodyssey’s (Geodyssey.co.uk) 15-night Nicaragua Odyssey visits the colonial cities of Leon and Granada, lively country villages, the lake island of Ometepe and a stunning array of landscapes, with wildlife, history, creative crafts and more. From Dh18,500 per person, based on two sharing, including transfers and tours but excluding international flights. For more information, visit visitnicaragua.us.
BRAZIL%20SQUAD
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