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Discover is a major source of news for millions of people, and Google continues to use AI to enhance the platform, with mixed results.
A new test uses AI to rewrite headlines provided by publications, and it's getting some of them wrong. Spotted by The Verge, the trial is showing select users shorter, AI-generated headlines. You can't see the original title unless you click through.
Some AI-generated rewrites misinterpret the article. An Ars Technica story titled “Valve’s Steam Machine looks like a console, but don’t expect it to be priced like one,” was rewritten by the AI as “Steam Machine price revealed.” Valve has yet to announce the price of its upcoming gadget.
Another example saw a PC Gamer article with an original headline detailing how some Baldur's Gate 3 players were building an in-game army of non-player characters that are designed to look like children. It was retitled by Google's AI to “BG3 players exploit children,” without a reference to those children being NPCs in the game.
Some other examples took away the unique angle of a story they were recommending. An article written by The Verge on how Microsoft's team is using AI was retitled to “Microsoft developers using AI," losing the story's original context.
We were unable to activate AI-generated headlines. A Google spokesperson told The Verge that only a select “subset of Discover users” would see the “small UI experiment," adding that it's designed "to make topic details easier to digest before they explore links from across the web.”
Google previously tested AI summaries of stories appearing in Discover. Google said at the time it wanted to test ways to make it easier for readers to decide which websites to visit.
Apple was forced to pause AI-generated news summaries a year ago after blasted out notifications with incorrect information. They returned in July.