As someone who used to think that his entire livelihood would come from writing, I’ve long wondered if any sort of computer or AI could replace my essential functions at work. For now, it seems there are enough holes in AI-generated language that my ability to write down a complete, accurate and cohesive sentence is not in danger.
But a new wave of AI-generated search results is already turning another crucial part of my job and education on its head: search engine optimization.
Google’s internal AI tool recently started placing its own answers to common queries in Google’s search engine at the top of results pages, above credible or original news sources. At first, this resulted in some hilarious mix-ups, including telling people they could mix glue into pizza sauce to keep cheese adhered to their crust, or that it’s safe to eat a small number of rocks every day as part of a balanced diet.
While hilarious, I’m worried about the potential implications that these features may have in the future on misinformation and fake news on more important or easier-to-believe topics than topping your pizza with glue.
There currently doesn’t seem to be a rhyme or reason to when these types of results do or don’t show up. Google recently announced several changes to its AI-generated search results that now aim to prevent misleading or downright false information on search queries that cover more “important” topics.
“For topics like news and health, we already have strong guardrails in place. For example, we aim to not show AI Overviews f ..
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