Google recently decided to pull an ad that was being shown during the Olympics featuring its AI chatbot Gemini writing a fan letter to a famous athlete. The ad, titled “Dear Sydney,” depicted a little girl’s dad asking the AI chatbot to help write a letter to her favorite athlete, U.S. hurdler and sprinter Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. The commercial showed the draft produced by Gemini and ended with the little girl running on the track with a text overlay that said, “A little help from Gemini.”
Despite the ad being viewable on YouTube, it has been removed from television airwaves due to the backlash it received. Google stated that while the ad tested well before airing, they have decided to phase it out of their Olympics rotation based on feedback. The company believes that the Gemini app can be a helpful tool for generating writing ideas and sees AI as a way to enhance human creativity, not replace it.
Some critics expressed concerns that the ad promotes the use of automation over authenticity, especially when it comes to children. Shelly Palmer, a professor at Syracuse University, rejected the vision of the future portrayed in the ad, stating that it leads to a world where original human thoughts are scarce. Google is not the only company facing criticism for ads that suggest replacing creative tasks with AI. Apple received backlash for a commercial featuring a hydraulic press machine crushing music instruments and paint cans to reveal its new iPad Pro, resulting in an apology and the ad being pulled from television.
While AI technology may lead to the elimination of some creative jobs, OpenAI’s technology chief Mira Murati mentioned that certain jobs should not have existed in the first place. Despite the controversy surrounding AI-generated content, the debate over the role of AI in creative industries continues to evolve.
In conclusion, the use of AI in creative processes remains a topic of debate, with companies like Google and Apple facing criticism for their ads promoting AI-generated content. As technology continues to advance, the balance between human creativity and AI assistance will be an ongoing discussion in various industries.