Google's AI Overview (AI Overviews) feature, recently pushed into search results, has become a hot topic—not for its revolutionary experience, but for its tendency to provide obviously wrong information.


This feature generates answer summaries directly at the top of search results, aiming to let users get information without clicking links. However, tests have found that the AI confidently suggests applying glue to pizza (claiming it increases stickiness) or eating at least one small stone daily.

The core issue lies in the Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) system. When search content involves niche, parody, or unverified information, RAG retrieves content from unreliable sources, and large language models generate seemingly reasonable but completely incorrect answers based on this content.

Ironically, to correct these errors, users end up spending more time cross-verifying the information provided by the AI. Tools meant to save time now add cognitive burden.

Google's response pattern is familiar: admit the problem and state that the system is being adjusted. But the deeper issue is that when AI tries to summarize everything, it must confront the contradictions, jokes, and errors inherent in human knowledge. This cannot be solved with more data alone.

The AI Overview feature exposes the current weaknesses of generative AI: it excels at mimicking language patterns but lacks an inherent understanding of 'truthfulness.' For developers, this is a valuable case study—during productization, accuracy must be finely balanced against convenience.

For regular users, it serves as a reminder: critical thinking is more important than ever when dealing with AI-generated content.