Artificial intelligence, better known as AI, has really taken off over the past couple of years. From Siri to ChatGPT, there are AI tools and assistants everywhere. One Redditor, fed up with the proliferation of AI, complained about their less-than-helpful Google search.
The r/mildlyinfuriating community is a place to complain about life's little annoyances for folks looking for advice, empathy, and commiseration.
One person took to the page to criticize Google's recent prioritization of AI in search results. "The first image when googling a dog breed being AI," they wrote.
The post included a screengrab of a search query of "papillon dog" with an AI image of the breed. Just below the image, there was a brief description of the dog that read, "AI overview."
Considering that dogs are photographed all the time, there should be plenty of real photos of this species to showcase rather than an AI-generated image.
There are some promising use cases for AI, but there seem to be more problems than solutions. The United Nations, which cited data from the International Energy Agency, noted, "A request made through ChatGPT, an AI-based virtual assistant, consumes 10 times the electricity of a Google search." While this image was not created for this specific search, the fact remains that countless unwanted AI results are provided to search engine users every day.
Energy usage has soared as search engine companies push more AI results. NPR noted that in a July 2024 report from Google, the company reported its climate-warming pollution had grown nearly 50% since 2019.
There has been some progress in curbing energy usage, including one company that has been researching how to reduce the required electricity.
Beyond the energy consumption worries, there are other concerns when it comes to AI. There is evidence it may worsen wildlife trafficking and poaching. Other research has concluded that artificial intelligence is amplifying misinformation, an already huge issue around the world.
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Commenters were rightly annoyed with these Google results.
One person complained that searching the internet has become much less helpful. "This is what has been happening these last months ever since AI has gained popularity. All search results will be AI-generated results or images, and it's so annoying."
Another person suggested a way to remove this type of search. "If you add -ai to the end, it should get rid of the AI responses." The Ecosia browser extension also allows users to replace their default search engine with one that does not use any AI results and actually donates profits toward planting trees.
"Stop using google. Stop using google. Stop using google," another user insisted.
Someone else gave what would seem to be a logical answer about how to move forward: "This needs to not be a thing. Not saying get rid of the AI, just have the real thing always be the first image. They got the order of importance backwards."
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