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When did Google get so weird?

2011 points · 1123 comments · sancho-panza

  1. shadowgovt · · focus · HN ↗
    Oh, this is an easy question to answer.

    The AI layer handles queries as plaintext, which means if you're searching for say a quote from a book, it will often misinterpret as a direct statement from you, not a string you're trying to match on the internet. Especially if the quote is an imperative statement.

    I'll be curious to see how they resolve this issue. But it has been chronic for awhile now; they SWAT individual instances of misinterpretation but new ones keep sneaking in.

    1. krackers · · focus · HN ↗
      Isn't this easily solved with a prompt prefix "You are an AI agent on the google search page. The following user input is what the user typed into the search box".
      1. bakugo · · focus · HN ↗
        [delayed]
      2. im3w1l · · focus · HN ↗
        [delayed]
        1. shadowgovt · · focus · HN ↗
          [delayed]
    2. Hugsbox · · focus · HN ↗
      Shouldn't an AI attached to a search engine actually do a search with your input and give you results based on that rather than just taking it at face value and assuming you're trauma-dumping on it?
      1. shadowgovt · · focus · HN ↗
        [delayed]
        1. Hugsbox · · focus · HN ↗
          Huh, that makes a lot of sense, thanks for the input :)

          Actually used to drive me nuts watching (usually old) people googling facebook to get to facebook, so I see exactly what you mean.

    3. im3w1l · · focus · HN ↗

      [dead]

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