I’ve lined Google’s AI Overviews since its messy rollout final 12 months, when screenshots of absurdly flawed solutions began popping up on the high of search outcomes and going viral on social media. Nonetheless, once I first noticed pictures of AI Overviews confidently saying that it is nonetheless 2024 in Reddit posts as we speak, I believed they could be altered screenshots. I imply, over a billion Google customers presently see the AI-generated outcomes each month. Certainly, such an apparent error would have been caught and patched by now?
I used to be flawed. Repeating the immediate “is it 2025” verbatim 3 times gave me three totally different AI Overview outcomes, but the primary sentence was the identical in every end result: “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 precise date as effectively: “It’s Might 28, 2024.” (I ran these checks on Might 29, 2025.) The artificial gaslighting bought wilder, in some way, on the second attempt: “In response to the offered data, for some areas it could be 2025, however not in all places 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 response to the offered data, for some areas all over the world, like Kiribati, New Zealand, and a few components of Russia and Australia, it’s presently 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 part. 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 this planet proper now. A New Zealand shout-out for some cause. Then, a Shyamalan-esque conclusion the place it says the actual 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 end result did make me really feel uncomfortable.
A spokesperson for Google was not instantly capable of remark.
