Is Google rewriting headlines?

CATCHING UP on our social media bookmarks, the Freelance finds a 20 March story from Sean Hollister of The Verge: “Google Search is now using AI to replace headlines“. It reports that Google reduced their headline “I used the ‘cheat on everything’ AI tool and it didn’t help me cheat on anything” to just five words: “‘Cheat on everything’ AI tool.”

This is... not good. As Sean writes: “It almost sounds like we’re endorsing a product we do not recommend at all.”

When we search for the real headline it comes back intact - as do a random selection of today's BBC News headlines. But Google told Sean that this is a “small” and “narrow” experiment, so your mileage may vary.

Please do send examples that you come across - with dated screen-shots please.

© Mike Holderness