• SwingingTheLamp@midwest.social
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    10 months ago

    Forget the spokesperson, just ask Google AI directly:

    AI on Google Search, including the AI Overviews in search, does not provide summaries on topics involving Donald Trump and dementia. This is due to risk aversion, sensitivity to political topics, and recent legal challenges. Instead, these searches return a list of traditional web links.

    Reasons for the lack of response

    • Risk of misinformation: AI-generated conclusions about a public figure’s health could spread misinformation. The mental acuity of Donald Trump and President Joe Biden, the oldest presidents in U.S. history, is a topic of public discussion.
    • Avoiding political sensitivity: AI models often have restrictions on sensitive or controversial topics to avoid biased responses. Google and other tech companies are cautious about how their AI products respond to election-related or partisan queries.
    • Legal history with Trump: Google’s handling of Trump-related content may be influenced by recent legal and political issues. In 2025, Google paid a $24.5 million settlement in a lawsuit related to the suspension of Trump’s YouTube account.
    • Inconsistent application of AI summaries: Some users report that searches about other politicians, like Barack Obama or Joe Biden, may return an AI-generated response, though this varies. This inconsistency has led to criticism that the AI applies selective censorship.

    Google’s statement A Google spokesperson stated that AI Overview and AI Mode do not always show answers to all queries, especially sensitive or complex ones. The company suggests that users rely on traditional search results in such cases.

    • Leon@pawb.social
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      10 months ago

      Okay, but why? LLMs always give a response, they’re trained to give a response regardless of accuracy. This entire wall of text could be completely made up.

          • willington@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            10 months ago

            We need to concern ourselves with what the corporations do.

            Who gives a shit how they explain themselves?

            Once the corps do something egregiously bad, we should not ask for an explanation. We should insist they change how they behave. Period.

    • CosmicTurtle0 [he/him]@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      10 months ago

      Instead, these searches return a list of traditional web links.

      “Oh…oh okay. So you know what that is. Why are unable to provide traditional web links for ALL my searches? Because, I’m gonna be honest with you Google. I never asked for you to ‘summarize’ my web results and the fact that you can turn it off at your discretion tells me that you could turn it off for everyone.”

    • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
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      10 months ago

      Yeah, we consistently give the wrong answer on any divisive and sensitive topic, but THIS particular issue we will skip because we wouldn’t want somebody to feel like we don’t have our tongue solidly lodged up their ass

      • Jason2357@lemmy.ca
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        10 months ago

        Yeah, it’s insanely inept. They could have restricted the AI from answering “any question about a public figure and dementia” or even “the health information about a politician” or whatever if they were genuinely concerned. But they blocked only specifically Trump and dementia? It’s almost intentionally obvious.

    • wolframhydroxide@sh.itjust.works
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      10 months ago

      In this case, I believe this article was written for those of us who are smart enough to realise that AI is all bullshit, and who understand that most people aren’t smart enough to figure out that first bit.

    • Envy@fedia.io
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      10 months ago

      Thats not what theyre referring to. If you search “does donald trump have dementia”, the ai prompt doesnt respond from its gathered results. Someone physically disabled the function.

      • db2@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        “We’re going to punish you by making the results a regular search.”

        They’re threatening us with a good time. 🤷

        • Envy@fedia.io
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          10 months ago

          Absolutely agreed, but also a way to filter information from the masses as a whole. Bread and circuses and all that

  • IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
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    10 months ago

    So you’re saying that we should do more AI searches for “Trump Dementia”

    … and use variations of it like … “Trump old losing his mind”, “Trump old senile”, “Trump dementia don”, “Donny Dementia”, “Ding Dong Dementia Donny Trump”

  • ikidd@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    This is probably payback for letting them off the hook on the monopoly suits. Expect more “payback” as they manipulate the narrative.

    • DarkAri@lemmy.blahaj.zoneBanned
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      10 months ago

      I use mojeek, and startpage sometimes. Ddg is too influenced now, they do the same stuff Google does. Brave is run by people who hate LGBT people so I can’t support them in good conscience.

      • Cyberflunk@lemmy.worlddeleted by creator
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        10 months ago
        The post is likely referring to a long-standing controversy around Brendan Eich, the founder and CEO of Brave (the browser and search engine company). In 2008, Eich donated $1,000 to support California's Proposition 8, a ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage (later overturned by courts). This came to light in 2014 when he was briefly appointed CEO of Mozilla, leading to widespread backlash from employees, users, and activists who viewed it as anti-LGBTQ+. Eich resigned from Mozilla after just 11 days amid the outcry, expressing regret for causing pain but not fully recanting his views.
        
        Some people, including in the LGBTQ+ community and allies, continue to avoid or criticize Brave on these grounds, seeing it as support for leadership with historically discriminatory stances. This isn't a "new" issue in 2025—it's tied to events from over a decade ago—but it persists in discussions about ethical tech choices. Brave has faced other unrelated controversies (e.g., ad practices), but this one specifically relates to anti-LGBT perceptions.
        
        For more details:
        - [Wikipedia on Brendan Eich](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brendan_Eich)
        - [Article on the Mozilla controversy](https://www.osnews.com/story/27646/the-new-mozilla-ceos-political-past-is-imperiling-his-present/)
        - [Recent discussion on Brave controversies](https://www.reddit.com/r/browsers/comments/1j1pq7b/list_of_brave_browser_controversies/)
        - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43300333
        

        well fuck! brave is the one browser that fits all my needs.

      • vpklotar@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        I’ve been a Kagi user for over a year and I usually hate AI summaries. Though I must say I love how Kagi has implemented them as it gives sources where it found the info so you can dig deeper and see if what it said was actually correct.

        • droans@midwest.social
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          10 months ago

          Kagi’s summaries are great.

          They’re hidden by default, requiring you to click the button first. They don’t extrapolate too much. And their sources will be the exact same links you got from the search.

        • Derpgon@programming.dev
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          10 months ago

          Their AI is pretty good, both assistant and search summaries. Been using it extensively as it actually provides correct and objective information (at least more often than others). It is also privacy-first, so you don’t get those annoying personality shifts as with like GPT.

    • vpklotar@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      If you don’t mind paying a little I have found that Kagi is the best. Sure, the others mentions are free but subpar, even to google. Kagi is simply better but with the downside of a monthly subscription. I love that they are quite transparent with changelogs and stuff when the make changes.