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Google withdraws disputed AI advertisement from Olympics broadcast following criticism.

Google has chosen to pull its “Dear Sydney” advert from NBC’s coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympics due to rising public controversy. The ad was initially created to promote Google’s generative AI tools, particularly Gemini, but it ended up sparking a heated debate about the ethical aspects of AI uses within society.

The contentious “Dear Sydney” ad showed a father utilizing Google’s Gemini AI to assist his daughter in writing a letter to her idol, Olympic track star Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. As the AI generates a draft letter, it led many viewers to believe that Google was promoting the outsourcing of personal communication and expressions of emotion to machines, rather than encouraging genuine human interaction and creativity.

The ad faced backlash across social media and in opinion pieces, with critics like Washington Post columnist Alexandra Petri arguing that using AI for such tasks could undermine human ability for independent thinking and expression. Google eventually decided to remove the ad from its Olympics rotation after receiving such feedback.

Further pressuring the situation, Gemini’s image generator made headlines after users found it producing disturbingly inaccurate historical images, such as black Vikings or Asian Popes. Furthermore, there were issues with Google’s Search Generative Experience that combined generative AI with Google Search which in some instances resulted in absurd suggestions, like encouraging users to stare at the Sun.

It is important to note that Google is a major sponsor of the Olympics. Their decision to pull a high-profile ad during a crucial sporting event suggest they are aware of the potential controversies that generative AI can trigger.

Many people use generative AI regularly despite a decrease in trust in AI technologies. Studies reveal concerns about privacy, the devaluating of human skills, and worries that these AI tools aren’t adequately tested. The controversy generated by Google’s recent ad embodies this trend and raises questions about the extent to which we are ready to integrate AI into personal aspects of our life.

Generative AI is growing rapidly, and while companies like Google strive to showcase their products’ capabilities, they are also grappling with the ethical implications of their technology and the challenge of building public trust.

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