Apparently, Google Home was having a little trouble telling real news from fake news, suggesting that former President Barack Obama is planning a coup d'etat.
This just goes to show that everybody is better off not believing everything they read on the internet without taking a moment to consider, especially at a time when false information have started to become even more widespread, with topics ranging from iPhone 8 and Galaxy S8 bits to bogus election websites in the past.
Google Home Spreads Fake News About Obama
Over the weekend, BBC's technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones asked Google Home, "Is Obama planning a coup?"
To which the smart speaker replied:
"According to details exposed in Western Centre for Journalism's exclusive video, not only could Obama be in bed with the communist Chinese, but Obama may in fact be planning a communist coup d'état at the end of his term in 2016," citing the website Secrets of the Fed.
And here's what happens if you ask Google Home "is Obama planning a coup?" pic.twitter.com/MzmZqGOOal
— Rory Cellan-Jones (@ruskin147) March 5, 2017
How did this happen? Well, it's because Google Home relies on Search's Featured Snippets to provide responses, which picks up fake news websites at times.
However, in Google's defense, the first result below the Snippet box on Search did show an ABC News report that debunked the false information.
For those wondering, Google has already fixed the issue after Cellan-Jones contacted the company about it, so searching for "is Obama planning a coup?" will no longer yield the smart speaker's original answer.
"Featured Snippets in Search provide an automatic and algorithmic match to a given search query, and the content comes from third-party sites. Unfortunately, there are instances when we feature a site with inappropriate or misleading content," Google responded, apologizing for any offense it may have caused.
Google Home Says Republicans Equals Nazis
As if the pot weren't stirred enough, Search Engine Land cofounder Danny Sullivan found out that when Google Home is asked whether Republicans are fascists or not, it will say that they are equal to Nazis and cite a website called Debate.org.
Google Home: "Yes, republicans = nazis" pic.twitter.com/7HVQjyjbEq — Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) March 5, 2017
The Fight Against Fake News
Google has been up and about in preventing fake news from spreading, and one notable example is when it updated Search's algorithm in December 2016 to take down Holocaust-denying results.
The Mountain View company isn't alone on the frontlines either, as Facebook and Apple are also up in arms against false information online.
For instance, Facebook rolled out the "disputed" tag to the social network to flag down fake news articles.
Meanwhile, Apple CEO Tim Cook voiced out his opinions, saying that governments should start public information campaigns to put a stop to fake news, which he considers to be "killing people's minds."
The Bottom Line
The internet just plopped an unwelcome serving of fake news on Google's plate, and in response, the company made quick work out of it. If nothing else, this is arguably a small but significant improvement to Google Home and Search.
