Google Olympics ad sparks new ire over generative AI
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Google's new Gemini ad. Screenshot: YouTube
Google's new ad for AI, featuring a dad using the Gemini chatbot to help his daughter write a fan letter to an Olympic gold medalist, is roiling the internet.
The big picture: A lot of viewers see the ad as a tone-deaf portrait of how AI could suck the humanity out of a tradition — the fan note — that's supposed to be handwritten and heartfelt.
- But others note that the ad carefully says Gemini is helping with a "draft to get you started." That's what a lot of users are happily prompting today's chatbots to produce, looking to overcome writer's block and get brainstorming help.
Catch up quick: Google's "Dear Sydney" ad shows a dad asking Gemini for help writing the letter, providing personal prompts about his daughter's love for Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. Gemini promptly generates a draft.
- Online commentators and Reddit dwellers were quick to take offense, not only for suggesting the fan letter shortcut but also for encouraging lazy parenting.
- NPR pop culture podcast host Linda Holmes wrote on Bluesky, "Sit down with your kid and write the letter with them! I'm just so grossed out by the entire thing."
- "The father in the video is not encouraging his daughter to learn to express herself," Shelly Palmer, media professor at Syracuse University, wrote in a blog post titled "Why Google's 'Dear Sydney' Ad Makes Me Want to Scream."
- "Instead of guiding her to use her own words and communicate authentically, he is teaching her to rely on AI for this critical human skill," Palmer wrote.
Yes, but: Many users find that chatbots like Gemini, ChatGPT and Claude offer useful remedies for the stress of staring at a blank page.
- GenAI can create a draft based on prompts — and then anyone who has ever struggled with writing (which is, surely, everyone) can turn that draft into something more personal.
What they're saying: "We believe that AI can be a great tool for enhancing human creativity, but can never replace it," Google ad communications manager Alana Beale told Axios.
- Google says its goal was to celebrate Team USA and "to show how the Gemini app can provide a starting point, thought starter, or early draft for someone looking for ideas for their writing," Beale wrote in an email.
Gemini itself was more self-critical. When Axios' Shane Savitsky asked the bot to "write a quick paragraph for me on why i don't like the gemini commercial running during the olympics," Gemini Advanced responded:
- "The Google Gemini commercial during the Olympics misses the mark.... While the sentiment is sweet, the use of Al to craft such a personal message feels disingenuous. A young fan's letter should be a genuine expression of their own admiration, not something generated by a machine."
Zoom out: People are already using chatbots to help with all kinds of tasks in and out of the workplace.
- Job-seekers use ChatGPT to write their resumes and cover letters, and managers regularly use it to write performance reviews.
- Parents have long leaned on calculators, Wikipedia, Google searches, Alexa and Siri for help with parenting and homework tasks. They've been using ChatGPT for help communicating, too.
- Even in the realm of love, many are finding that companion chatbots can augment their human relationships.
Our thought bubble: Generative AI can create a useful first draft, but it still needs a human to fact-check and personalize the results.
- Right now, teaching a child this lesson is just as important as teaching them how to write a fan letter.
The bottom line: Spellcheck has changed the way we teach spelling. Wikipedia has changed the way we do research. Text messages have changed the way we communicate.
- None of these innovations are perfect — but none of them have yet destroyed civilization.
