Google simply cannot escape the drama related to its Super Bowl Sunday ad campaign that is supposed to promote its Gemini AI model. What was originally thought to be a bit of hallucinated information from Gemini—which would be bad all on its own—turns out to have not even come from Gemini at all.

Google appears to have faked AI output in a commercial set to run during the Super Bowl. The ad shows a business owner using Gemini to write a website description, but the text portrayed as generated by AI has been available on the business’s website since at least August 2020, as shown on this archived webpage.

Google’s Super Bowl ad features a Wisconsin cheesemaker who uses Google’s Gemini AI tool to write cheese descriptions.

A screenshot of the AI chatbot in the ad claimed Gouda accounted for 50-60% of global cheese consumption. Was it funded by Big Gouda, or was it just an AI hallucination?

Super Bowl commercials are a very big deal, and reports claim that each spot can cost upwards of $8 million — in part thanks to all the eyes that will be watching. Needless to say you make sure everything is in order,