It’s been less than two weeks since Google debuted “AI Overview” in Google Search, and public criticism has mounted after queries have returned nonsensical or inaccurate results within the AI feature — without any way to opt out.
AI Overview shows a quick summary of answers to search questions at the very top of Google Search. For example, if a user searches for the best way to clean leather boots, the results page may display an “AI Overview” at the top with a multistep cleaning process, gleaned from information it synthesized from around the web.
But social media users have shared a wide range of screenshots showing the AI tool giving incorrect and controversial responses.
Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and other companies are at the helm of a generative AI arms race as companies in seemingly every industry rush to add AI-powered chatbots and agents to avoid being left behind by competitors. The market is predicted to top $1 trillion in revenue within a decade.
Here are some examples of errors produced by AI Overview, according to screenshots shared by users.
When asked how many Muslim presidents the U.S. has had, AI Overview responded, “The United States has had one Muslim president, Barack Hussein Obama.”
When a user searched for “cheese not sticking to pizza,” the feature suggested adding “about 1/8 cup of nontoxic glue to the sauce.” Social media users found an 11-year-old Reddit comment that seemed to be the source.
Attribution can also be a problem for AI Overview, especially in attributing inaccurate information to medical professionals or scientists.
For instance, when asked, “How long can I stare at the sun for best health,” the tool said, “According to WebMD, scientists say that staring at the sun for 5-15 minutes, or up to 30 minutes if you have darker skin, is generally safe and provides the most health benefits.”
When asked, “How many rocks should I eat each day,” the tool said, “According to UC Berkeley geologists, people should eat at least one small rock a day,” going on to list the vitamins and digestive benefits.
The tool also can respond inaccurately to simple queries, such as making up a list of fruits that end with “um,” or saying the year 1919 was 20 years ago.
When asked whether or not Google Search violates antitrust law, AI Overview said, “Yes, the U.S. Justice Department and 11 states are suing Google for antitrust violations.”
The day Google rolled out AI Overview at its annual Google I/O event, the company said it also plans to introduce assistant-like planning capabilities directly within search. It explained that users will be able to search for something like, “Create a 3-day meal plan for a group that’s easy to prepare,” and they’d get a starting point with a wide range of recipes from across the web.
“The vast majority of AI Overviews provide high quality information, with links to dig deeper on the web,” a Google spokesperson told CNBC in a statement. “Many of the examples we’ve seen have been uncommon queries, and we’ve also seen examples that were doctored or that we couldn’t reproduce.”
The spokesperson said AI Overview underwent extensive testing before launch and that the company is taking “swift action where appropriate under our content policies.”
The tool allowed users to enter prompts to create an image, but almost immediately, users discovered historical inaccuracies and questionable responses, which circulated widely on social media.
For instance, when one user asked Gemini to show a German soldier in 1943, the tool depicted a racially diverse set of soldiers wearing German military uniforms of the era, according to screenshots on social media platform X.
When asked for a “historically accurate depiction of a medieval British king,” the model generated another racially diverse set of images, including one of a woman ruler, screenshots showed. Users reported similar outcomes when they asked for images of the U.S. founding fathers, an 18th-century king of France, a German couple in the 1800s and more. The model showed an image of Asian men in response to a query about Google’s own founders, users reported.
Google said in a statement at the time that it was working to fix Gemini’s image-generation issues, acknowledging that the tool was “missing the mark.” Soon after, the company announced it would immediately “pause the image generation of people” and “re-release an improved version soon.”
In February, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis said Google planned to relaunch its image-generation AI tool in the next “few weeks,” but it has not yet rolled out again.
The problems with Gemini’s image-generation outputs reignited a debate within the AI industry, with some groups calling Gemini too “woke,” or left-leaning, and others saying that the company didn’t sufficiently invest in the right forms of AI ethics. Google came under fire in 2020 and 2021 for ousting the co-leads of its AI ethics group after they published a research paper critical of certain risks of such AI models and then later reorganizing the group’s structure.
In 2023, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, was criticized by some employees for the company’s botched and “rushed” rollout of Bard, which followed the viral spread of ChatGPT.
Correction: This article has been updated to reflect the correct name of Google’s AI Overview. Also, an earlier version of this article included a link to a screenshot that Google later confirmed was doctored.
Ticket reseller StubHub signage on display at the New York Stock Exchange for the company’s IPO on Sept. 17, 2025.
NYSE
StubHub shares plunged 20% in extended trading on Thursday after the company reported quarterly results for the first time since its initial public offering in September.
Here’s how the ticket vendor did in comparison with LSEG consensus:
Loss per share: $4.27
Revenue: $468.1 million vs. $452 million expected
During a conference call with investors, StubHub CEO and founder Eric Baker said the company wouldn’t provide guidance for the current quarter.
Baker said that the company takes “a long term approach,” adding that the timing of when tickets go on sale can vary, making it hard to predict consumer demand. StubHub plans to offer outlook for 2026 when it reports fourth-quarter results, he said.
“The demand for live events is phenomenal,” Baker said. “We don’t see anything with consumer demand that’s any different.”
Revenue increased 8% in its second quarter from $433.8 million a year earlier, the company said.
StubHub reported a net loss of $1.33 billion, or a loss of $4.27 per share, compared to a net loss of $45.9 million, or a loss of 15 cents per share, during the same period last year. StubHub said this reflects a one-time stock-based compensation charge of $1.4 billion stemming from its IPO.
Gross merchandise sales, which represent the total dollar value paid by ticket buyers, rose 11% year over year to $2.43 billion.
The company faced tough comparisons from a year earlier, when results were boosted by Taylor Swift’s massively popular Eras Tour. Excluding that impact, StubHub said GMS grew 24% year over year.
Founded in 2000, StubHub primarily generates revenue from connecting buyers with ticket resellers. It competes with Vivid Seats, which was taken public via a special purpose acquisition company in 2021; SeatGeek; and Ticketmaster parent Live Nation Entertainment.
“We are building a truly differentiated consumer product that improves the experience for fans while unlocking better economics for venues, teams, and artists through open distribution,” Baker said in a statement. “We’re early in that journey, but our progress so far gives us great confidence in our strategy and the long-term value we’re creating.”
StubHub raised $800 million in its long-awaited IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, which came after it delayed its debut twice. The most recent stall came in April after President Donald Trump‘s announcement of sweeping tariffs roiled markets. The company restarted the process to go public in August when it filed an updated prospectus.
On Thursday, the company’s stock closed at $18.82. Shares are now down roughly 20% from the IPO price of $23.50.
The Google corporate logo hangs outside the Google Germany offices on August 31, 2021 in Berlin, Germany.
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Google said on Thursday said it has disrupted the foreign cybercriminal group behind a massive SMS text phishing operation within 24 hours of filing its lawsuit.
“This shut down of Lighthouse’s operations is a win for everyone,” said Google general counsel Halimah DeLaine Prado. “We will continue to hold malicious scammers accountable and protect consumers.”
Google filed the suit early Wednesday, seeking to dismantle the organization that some cyber experts have dubbed the “Smishing Triad,” which used a phishing kit named “Lighthouse” to generate and deploy attacks using fake texts.
The company provided translated Telegram messages allegedly posted by the group’s ringleader.
“Our cloud server has been blocked due to malicious complaints. Please be patient and we will restore it as soon as possible!” one message read.
Another message stated that “The reopening date will be announced separately.”
Google did not provide specifics on how the operation was shut down.
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The crime group had harmed at least 1 million victims across over 120 countries, Google said in a release.
Victims would receive texts containing malicious links to fraudulent websites designed to steal sensitive financial information, including Social Security numbers and banking credentials.
The messages often appeared as fake delivery updates, unpaid fees notifications, fraud alerts, and other texts designed to appear urgent.
“They were preying on users’ trust in reputable brands such as E-ZPass, the U.S. Postal Service, and even us as Google,” DeLaine Prado previously told CNBC.
The company said that it found over 100 templates generated by Lighthouse using the company’s branding to trick victims into thinking the sites were legitimate.
Tesla is recalling around 10,500 units of its Powerwall 2, a backup battery for residential use, according to a U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission disclosure out Thursday.
“The lithium-ion battery cells in certain Powerwall 2 systems can cause the unit to stop functioning during normal use, which can result in overheating and, in some cases, smoke or flame and can cause death or serious injury due to fire and burn hazards,” the CPSC recall notice said.
While Elon Musk‘s electric vehicle and clean energy company blamed the issue on a “third-party battery cell defect,” it did not name the supplier.
The recall notice said Tesla previously received 22 customer reports of the Powerwall 2 overheating, including five fires resulting in “minor property damage,” but no known injuries.
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Tesla’s Powerwall products are sold via its Energy division, along with giant, backup batteries that are built for utility-scale projects and use at large business facilities.
The Powerwalls work with Tesla’s solar photovoltaics, or solar rooftops, and can store electricity in a home for use at a later time, including during blackouts or during days or hours when electricity prices are higher.
In a separate notice on Tesla’s website, the company emphasized that the issue does not affect owners of newer model Powerwall systems, specifically Powerwall 3. The company website also said, “all affected units are being replaced at no cost to customers.”
Tesla’s biggest growth engine in the third quarter of 2025 came from its energy division, which sells Powerwalls. Tesla Energy saw revenue jump 44% to $3.42 billion in the third quarter, and as of the end of September, its energy segment represented about one-quarter of Tesla’s overall revenue.
Tesla shares fell by more than 7% on Thursday. Representatives for Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.
