It appears that Google fakes AI output with a commercial set that runs during the Super Bowl. This ad shows business owners who write website descriptions using Gemini, but text depicted as being generated by AI can be found at least 2020, as shown on this archived web page. It will be available on the business website from August 2019.
Google did not release Gemini until 2023. This means that Gemini could not generate a website description as depicted in the ads.
The commercial in question is part of a series of Super Bowl ads showing how small businesses across the US use Gemini AI on Google Workspace. In this particular ad, Google uses Gemini to create a website description for Gouda listings using Wiskonsin Cheese Mart.
Google commercials were already being scrutinized to show that Gemini generates false information. The ad originally had a current copy of Gemini, which states that Gouda accounted for “50-60% of the world’s cheese consumption,” but this is not true. Google later edited the commercial to retrieve the statistics, but the business owner also removed it from the website.
However, Google claimed that the website description was written by Gemini all along. In addition to Gemini’s “generating” explanations in the commercial, Google Cloud Apps president Jerry Dischler said Gouda Stat was “not hallucinated,” adding that “Gemini is grounded to the web.”
When asked why Google removed the incorrect details from the commercial, Google spokesman Michele Wyman told Verge that the business owner suggested “Gemini rewrites the product description without statistics.” After that, Google “updated the UI to reflect what the business does.” However, the explanation – at least the original – appears to have never been written by Gemini from the beginning.
Verge reached out to Google in a request for comment but did not respond immediately.
