“Who wants a fan letter written by AI?” asked writer Linda Holmes, among others.
The “Dear Sydney” advert, which Google ran during the broadcast of the Olympic Games in Paris, was about the US company’s AI programme Gemini. It shows a little girl running. Her father says that his daughter is the biggest fan of US hurdler Sydney Michelle McLaughlin-Levrone – and that Gemini helped his daughter write a fan letter to his idol.
“This is one of the most disturbing commercials I have ever seen”
Many Internet users then criticized the ad for suggesting that parents should teach their children to trust AI rather than express themselves. “This is one of the most disturbing commercials I have ever seen,” wrote media professor Shelly Palmer of Syracuse University in New York State in a blog. “This is exactly what no one should do with AI. Ever.”
“The father in the video does not encourage his daughter to learn how to express herself,” Palmer criticizes. “Instead of guiding her to use her own words and communicate authentically, he teaches her to rely on AI for this essential human skill.” When asked, Google did not initially comment on the criticism.
