Discover is a major source of news for millions of people around the world, and Google is continuing its experiments with AI on the platform. A new test uses AI to rewrite the headlines provided by publications, and sometimes it’s doing so inaccurately.
Spotted by The Verge, the trial is showing select users AI-generated headlines without the original post’s title included until you click through. The AI-generated headlines shorten the description to four words with at least nine different instances appearing in the website’s research.
Some AI-generated rewrites have misunderstood the article and show false information in the replacement headline. An article from Ars Technica, titled “Valve’s Steam Machine looks like a console, but don’t expect it to be priced like one,” was rewritten by the AI as “Steam Machine price revealed.” Valve has yet to publicly comment on the price of its upcoming gadget.
Another example saw a PC Gamer article with an original headline detailing how some Baldur’s Gate 3 players were building an in-game army of non-player characters who are designed to look like children. It was retitled by Google’s AI to “BG3 players exploit children,” without a reference to those children being NPCs in the game.
Some other examples took away the unique angle of a story they were recommending. An article written by The Verge on how Microsoft’s team is using AI was retitled to “Microsoft developers using AI,” losing the story’s original context.
PCMag was unable to activate AI-generated headlines. A Google spokesperson told The Verge that only a select “subset of Discover users” would see the “small UI experiment.”
The spokesperson for Google said, “We are testing a new design that changes the placement of existing headlines to make topic details easier to digest before they explore links from across the web.”
Google previously tested its own summaries of stories appearing in Discover, taking the article and providing its own AI-generated synopsis. Google said at the time it wanted to test ways to make it easier for readers to decide which websites to visit.
Get Our Best Stories!
Your Daily Dose of Our Top Tech News
By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy
Policy.
Thanks for signing up!
Your subscription has been confirmed. Keep an eye on your inbox!
About Our Expert
Experience
I’ve been a journalist for over a decade after getting my start in tech reporting back in 2013. I joined PCMag in 2025, where I cover the latest developments across the tech sphere, writing about the gadgets and services you use every day. Be sure to send me any tips you think PCMag would be interested in.
Read Full Bio
