Google Olympics AI ad pulled!

The WashingtonPost.com reported “Google pulled a video advertisement it had been running prominently on Olympics coverage that showed a father using artificial intelligence to help his daughter write a letter to her sports hero, the latest example of the tech giant receiving backlash for its AI products.
“The August 2, 2024 article entitled “Google pulls Olympics artificial intelligence ad after backlash
“ (https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/08/02/google-gemini-ad-ai-sydney-mclaughlin/) included these comments:

The ad for Google’s AI chatbot, Gemini, depicted a father proudly talking of his daughter’s ambitions in track and field. He was shown using the AI assistant to research coaching tips and then asking it to help her write a fan letter to U.S. Olympics star Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.


The ad aired repeatedly during NBC’s Olympics coverage, putting Google’s vision for how AI can help people in front of a massive audience during one of the biggest live events of the year.

But many who saw the ad were turned off by the suggestion that AI should be used to craft a personal message that should come from the heart, posting criticism of it on social media.


“The Google AI ad during Olympics coverage is so bleak. Prevent your daughter from writing her own fan letter to her sport hero. Ugh,” Erika Hall, a design strategist and consultant, said in a post on LinkedIn.

“In the fall, is it going to be ‘Have your kids generate art using AI and put that on the fridge, so they can focus on their homework instead.’”

Interesting, but not surprising AI news!