Google airs TV commercial in which AI writes fan letters from children to track and field athletes, sparking outrage
To promote its AI, Gemini, Google created a TV commercial in which Gemini wrote fan letters to athletes. However, the commercial has received a lot of criticism, and Google has stopped airing the commercial on TV.
Google pulls AI ad for Olympics following backlash
Dear Google, who wants an AI-written fan letter? | TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2024/07/28/dear-google-who-wants-an-ai-written-fan-letter/
The ad in question is a one-minute long piece titled 'Dear Sydney.'
Google + Team USA — Dear Sydney - YouTube
The commercial features a parent and child who love track and field, with the father providing the narration.
His daughter is a big fan of 400m hurdles world record holder
The father comments that he has a pretty good way with words, but it has to be perfect, and asks Gemini to write a letter to Sydney for his daughter.
The input to Gemini was, 'Help my daughter write a letter to Sydney to let her know how much she inspires her and that she plans to beat Sydney's world record one day.'
Gemini, who had been asked to write a letter, printed out a long, drawn-out 'Draft of a Letter to Sydney.'
The commercial ends with the phrase, 'A little help from Gemini.'
This commercial has received a lot of criticism after being aired in the advertising slot of a TV program related to the Paris Olympics. For example, Washington Post columnist Alexandra Petri wrote, 'Every time I see Dear Sydney, I want to throw a hammer at the TV.' 'This may be an evolutionary mistake. Maybe our ancestors should not have left the sea.' 'If you have never seen this ad, you have had a blessed life. I would like to trade places with you.' 'All it takes is a couple of lines of text displayed in the middle of the ad to tell you that the text written by the AI is garbage.' 'Taking away the ability to write for yourself is synonymous with taking away the ability to think for yourself.' 'Gemini has no idea what part of Sydney inspired my daughter,' 'why she wants to write a letter,' or 'what she wants to be in the future.'
In addition, Linda Holmes , a host of NPR's discussion radio, said, 'The commercial that says 'Let AI write fan letters to your child's heroes' is the worst. Of course, some people have special circumstances and need help, but the structure that says 'It's amazing that you don't have to write it yourself!' is the worst. Who wants a fan letter written by an AI?'' She also said, 'I can say with certainty that the words that children construct themselves are more meaningful than any words that the prompt spits out (the AI outputs).'
This commercial showing somebody having a child use AI to write a fan letter to her hero SUCKS. Obviously there are special circumstances and people who need help, but as a general “look how cool, she didn't even have to write anything herself!” story, it SUCKS. Who wants an AI-written fan letter??
— Linda Holmes (@lindaholmes.bsky.social) 2024-07-27T12:48:34.681Z
In response to these comments, Google decided to stop broadcasting the commercial on television. Google also told CNBC that 'the commercial was thoroughly verified before airing,' 'our goal was to create a story that celebrated the U.S. national team,' and 'we believe that AI can be a great tool to enhance human creativity, but will never replace it.'
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