In December, news outlets noticed Google messing up the headlines of articles published in Discover. As it happens, it was Google that was experimenting with AI-generated headlines; Instead of showing readers headlines that outlets wrote themselves, Google’s AI will take charge of rewriting them. Why? According to Google, this was “a small UI experiment for a subset of Discover users” that “changes the location of existing headlines to make topic details easier to digest.” While those of us who actually write headlines would argue that such experimentation isn’t really necessary, Google apparently disagrees, as experimentation is now a feature.
Articles in Google Search may be influenced by AI
The thing is, Google isn’t content with limiting AI-generated headlines to just Discover. As seen by The VergeThe company is now extending its AI rewrite to Google Search as well. This means that if you click on an article on a Google search page, it may have a title that the publication had no input on. Of course, when you click on the actual article, you’ll see the actual headline. Once again, Google says this is an experiment – ​​a “small” and “narrow” one and, in its current state, the feature is not ready for full rollout. But The Verge says it has seen multiple examples of Google taking its articles and changing the title for search.
For example, the AI ​​changed the headline “I used the ‘Cheat on Everything’ AI tool and it didn’t help me cheat on anything” to “The ‘Cheat on Everything’ AI tool.” Sure, the article is about the “Chat on Everything” tool, but the AI ​​version leaves out some serious context: The Verge simply isn’t highlighting this tool, or worse, isn’t endorsing it; This is heavily criticizing it – something that the original title was designed to advertise to readers. In another example, “You can’t replace the battery in Lego’s Smart Bricks – and many of its sensors aren’t activated yet” was changed to “You can’t replace the battery in Lego’s Smart Bricks.” At least it doesn’t retell the story, but it leaves out a part of the story entirely. Finally, “I met Olaf – the Frozen robot that could be the future of Disney Parks,” which Google’s AI awkwardly shortened to “The Frozen Robot that could be the future of Disney Parks.” Yes, “the” is lowercase in search for some reason.
Why is Google doing this?
The Verge acknowledges that Google has changed far fewer titles in Search than in Discover, meaning you’re much less likely to encounter an AI title in Google Search than you are scrolling through the Discover feed. But if the tours feature in Discover is any indication, Google will only be adding more AI-generated headlines to Search in the near future.
What do you think so far?
Google told The Verge that the goal is to “identify content on a page that would be a useful and relevant title to users’ queries” and to “apply titles that better match users’ queries and facilitate engagement with web content.” This use is clearly not specific to news articles, and if Google were to launch such a feature, it would not use generative AI to rewrite headlines. So, why use generative AI to rewrite headlines in an experiment? To that point, The Verge says that sometimes, Google’s AI uses its title, but the wrong version. Outlets like The Verge sometimes create two versions of the title: one for the website, and one that appears on search. When The Verge wrote an entire headline designed for search, Google’s AI would reportedly swap out the headline and select the site headline for search.
Of course, Google Search belongs to Google, and we’re all at the company’s mercy when it comes to what shows up in those results. But it seems a bit strange to change the headline of a website while it is ranking in search, whether it is cutting half the angle, or changing the entire angle. If readers click through, thinking they’re getting one thing, and end up finding another, what good is that? I guess Google thinks it’s good for them, but, like many changes the company has made in recent years, it’s not really good for anyone else.
