Google will change the rules of operation due to accusations of spreading fakes

Steven — Tue, 12 Jul 2022 09:00:12 +0000

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Google said it would change its policies because the search engine has been accused of spreading fakes.

Google will stop giving quick answers to stupid questions as it seeks to improve its search engine’s “suggested snippets” service.

That means users should see fewer answers to questions like “When did Snoopy kill Abraham Lincoln?” to which the service would someday cheerfully answer “1865” – the right date, but the very wrong killer.

In 2017, the company was accused of spreading “fake news” after a snippet of the query “Is Obama planning a coup?” Its voice assistant cheerfully told users: “Obama may indeed be planning a communist coup.”

In trying to address the root cause of such errors, Google is also missing new warnings about instances where a search term hits “blank data,” a question to which there simply may not be a good answer.