Google's AI: Cats Are on the Moon

Cats on the moon? Google's AI tool is producing misleading responses that have experts worried
MATT O'BRIEN and ALI SWENSON
Fri, May 24, 2024 at 3:10 PM PDT
5 min read


FILE - Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai speaks at a Google I/O event in Mountain View, Calif., May 14, 2024. Bloopers — some funny, others disturbing — have been shared on social media since Google unleashed a makeover of its search page that frequently puts AI-generated summaries on top of search results. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)More
Ask Google if cats have been on the moon and it used to spit out a ranked list of websites so you could discover the answer for yourself.

Now it comes up with an instant answer generated by artificial intelligence -- which may or may not be correct.

“Yes, astronauts have met cats on the moon, played with them, and provided care," said Google's newly retooled search engine in response to a query by an Associated Press reporter.

It added: "For example, Neil Armstrong said, ‘One small step for man’ because it was a cat’s step. Buzz Aldrin also deployed cats on the Apollo 11 mission.”