Landmark German ruling declares Google's AI Overviews are Google's own words and makes it liable for false answers
the-decoder.com
A German regional court has ruled that Google is directly liable for the content of its AI search overviews. According to the court, previous limited liability protections for search engine operators don't apply to AI overviews. In this case, Google's AI had falsely linked two publishers to fraud and made claims that didn't appear in any of the linked sources. The ruling could set a precedent for AI-generated content liability worldwide.
  • Lvxferre [he/him]@mander.xyzEnglish
    29·
    19 hours ago

    Google’s own argument would also “significantly diminish” the benefit of the feature, the court noted, if the overview were “generally recognized as unreliable.”

    That’s an important detail, and I’m glad the court caught it up — Google tries to eat the cake and have it too.

    The model was tweaked to vomit certainty. Its output is in a page you’re hitting as you’re looking for answers, and this implies the output contains an accurate answer. Everything screams “trust me” = “be gullible” from a distance. Except of course when the model gets something wrong, then it’s your fault for being gullible/trusting.

    And this is not just Google, mind you. Every single corporation behind large “language” models does the same shit: “believe me”, then “lol you stupid you believe me lmao haha”.

    Reminder: fooling suckers is still fooling people.

    • stopdropandprole@lemmy.worldEnglish
      16·
      17 hours ago

      “Chill bro, it’s For Entertainment Purposes Only”

      but also…

      “we’ve created the world’s most powerful disruptive technology ever known and it can out-think humans”

      kinda reminds me of the nonsense argument that immigrants are simultaneously extremely lazy but they’re also somehow stealing everyone’s jobs.

    • gnuthing [they/them]@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
      5·
      17 hours ago

      My kid’s elementary school class is being taught to use that overview when they use searches. Reminds me a bit of how cults use thought stopping cliches

      • Lvxferre [he/him]@mander.xyzEnglish
        1·
        13 hours ago

        That’s disgusting. Almost like school doesn’t care about informing and empowering little human beings for their future, it cares only about shaping them as cogs for the machine… actually, disregard that “almost like”, school is like this.

        This will be a source of woes for the following decades.

        • gnuthing [they/them]@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
          2·
          5 hours ago

          No, it is really different from when I was in school. Like if you’re not supplementing their education, your kid is missing a lot. And sometimes it seems like the teachers are really struggling to maintain control of the classroom

  • FilesForWallabies@piefed.socialEnglish
    14·
    16 hours ago

    Can we add companies and law enforcement agencies that use facial recognition or LPDR that lead to the arrest and long term incarceration of people who are literally in a different state at the time of the crime? I heard of 3 so far who have lost homes, jobs, child custody, etc. These companies should literally pay restitution and to assist the individuals rebuild their lives.

  • db_null@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    5·
    16 hours ago

    Great, liability is the only way to get them to care. I wonder how long it will take Google to threaten with pulling out of the EU.

    • fizzle@quokk.auEnglish
      31·
      15 hours ago

      Ah yes, my favourite threat.

      I can imagine the infants crying, women wailing in the street, and much gnashing of teeth.