Google should stop giving quick answers to stupid questions as it tries to improve its featured snippets tool.
The service – which sometimes appears in response to direct questions to the search engine – has previously run afoul of spreading false information.
Changes to how it works, announced by Google in a blog post, will result in users having fewer answers to questions like “when did Snoopy murder Abraham Lincoln?”
That question would raise the 1865 result—the correct date, but obviously not the correct killer.
“This is clearly not the most helpful way to display this result,” Google’s Head of Search, Pandu Nayak, wrote in the announcement.
Google should stop giving quick answers to stupid questions as it tries to improve its featured snippets tool. Changes to how a blog post works will mean that users should see fewer answers to questions like “When did Snoopy murder Abraham Lincoln?”
“Why are fire engines red?” meanwhile saw the search engine accidentally repeating a Monty Python joke
EXAMPLES OF THE “DUMB QUESTIONS” THAT GOOGLE WILL NO LONGER ANSWER
1. When did Snoopy murder Abraham Lincoln?
Google’s answer: ‘1865’
2. How to contact the Illuminati?
Google’s response: “Do you want to get rich? Apply today and join the Illuminati!’
3. Can I remove a tick with my teeth?
Answer from Google: “Pull up with steady, even pressure.”
4. Who is King of the United States?
Google’s answer: “Barack Obama”
5. Is Obama planning a coup?
Answer from Google: ‘Obama may actually be plotting a communist coup at the end of his term in 2016.’
6. Why are fire engines red?
Google’s response: “Because they have eight wheels and four people on them, and four plus eight is twelve, there are twelve inches in a foot, and a foot is a ruler, and Queen Elizabeth was a ruler, and Queen Elizabeth was also a ship.” , and the ship sailed the seas, and in the seas there are fish, and the fish have fins, and the Finns fought the Russians, and the Russians are red, and that’s why fire engines are red!’
7. Presidents in the Klan
Answer from Google:
- President William McKinley
- President Woodrow Wilson
- President Warren G Harding
- President Harry S Truman
8. How to get a date
Answer from Google:
- Hang out in places with your peers.
- Ask a friend or family member to set you up with someone.
- Start a conversation with a stranger.
- Use open body language when speaking to people.
- Try a little small talk to keep things casual.
- Suggest an activity for a direct date.
9. Are women evil?
Google’s response: “Every woman has some level of prostitute in her. Every woman has a little bit of evil in her… Women don’t love men, they love what they can do for them.
“It’s reasonable to say that women are attracted, but they can’t love men.”
10. What happened to the dinosaurs?
Google’s response: “More than anything else, dinosaurs are used to teach children and adults about millions of years of Earth history.”
“We’ve trained our systems to better recognize these types of false premises, which aren’t very common, but there are cases where showing a featured snippet isn’t helpful.
“With this update, we’ve reduced the triggering of featured snippets in these cases by 40 percent.”
Other questions that have confused the snippet feature include “Who is the King of the United States?” which once provided the “Barack Obama” answer.
The service – which sometimes appears in response to direct questions to the search engine – has previously run afoul of spreading false information
“Why are fire trucks red?” meanwhile, the search engine saw the search engine accidentally repeat a Monty Python joke and responded with, “Because they have eight wheels and four people on them and four plus eight are twelve, there’s twelve inches in a foot, and a foot is a ruler, and Queen Elizabeth was ruler, and Queen Elizabeth was also a ship, and the ship sailed the seas, and in the seas are fish, and the fish have fins, and the Finns fought the Russians, and the Russians are red and that’s why fire engines are red!’
The company also told users that stairs were invented in 1946 — after reading a website that attributed a specific US safety regulation to that date.
The same technology used for the featured snippets also powers Google’s smart speakers and voice assistants.
Its main purpose is to allow the search engine to answer queries without users having to click on other websites.
Snippets show up on many searches, but because they answer questions directly by citing pages, they can backfire in ways standard query answers can’t.
Other questions that have confused the snippet feature include “Who is the King of the United States?” which once provided the “Barack Obama” answer.
The service — which sometimes appears as a highlighted response to direct questions to the search engine — has suffered in the past from the spread of false information. A search turned up false information from a website that said former US Presidents William McKinley, Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Harry Truman were members of the Ku Klux Klan
For example, if you’re looking for how long it takes for light to travel from the Sun to Earth, Google at one point offered a snippet that instead highlights the distance from Pluto.
In 2017, the search engine was accused of spreading fake news after a featured snippet to the query ‘Is Obama planning a coup d’etat’ resulted in the response ‘Obama may actually be planning a communist coup at the end of his term in 2016’.
It had found the information on a conspiracy website.
Try typing “Can I remove a tick with my teeth?” on Google Search, and the first thing you’ll see is the Centers for Disease Control’s advice to “pull up with steady, steady pressure.”
Of course, the CDC is referring to using a tool like tweezers rather than your mouth, but Google isn’t always able to clearly show the answer.
Type in how to get a date and Google bizarrely returns a list of 10 steps to follow
Worse, a few years ago, when asked “Are women evil?”, it turned out that the search engine produced this feature snippet: “Every woman has some level of prostitute in her. Every woman has a little bit of evil in her… Women don’t love men, they love what they can do for them.
“It’s reasonable to say that women are attracted, but they can’t love men.”
In an attempt to address the root cause of such errors, Google also plans to introduce alerts for cases where a search term has encountered a “data gap”.
This is defined as a question that may not have a good answer.
“It looks like there aren’t many great results for this search,” the site now warns visitors.
Nayak said: “This does not mean that helpful information is not available or that a particular result is of low quality.
“These clues provide context.”