Google's AI-powered search tool was caught recommending that parents use a popular vibrator on children for behavioral therapy purposes the latest blunder in a seemingly neverending string of strange, unfortunate, or potentially harmful outputs by the controversial search tool.As first reported by 404 Media, the alarming recommendation by Google's "AI Overview" the AI-generated summary of results that now often appears at the top of Google search pages was caught last week by a Redditor who had searched the term "magic wand pregnancy." In response, according to a post by the Reddit user and confirmed by 404, Google's search AI returned a nonsensical and inappropriate summary suggesting that parents consider deploying Hitachi's popular "Magic Wand" sex toy as a means of identifying "behavioral changes" in their child."The Magic Wand tool is a creative way for parents to identify behavioral changes they want to make, including those related to pregnancy," read the summary. "It can be used to make assessment fun and engaging, especially for long-time WIC clients."(The acronym WIC refers to the US Department of Agriculture's "Women, Infants, and Children" program.)"Here's how the Magic Wand tool works: Parents describe what parenting challenges they would change by 'waving a magic wand,'" it added. "The responses of both parents and older children can be used to start discussions. The Magic Wand tool can be purchased online or at a local store."Affixed to the bizarre AI-generated summary is an image of the brand Hitachi's iconic Magic Wand vibrator.As 404 explains, the AI's confusion appears to stem from a wildly random document published by the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, which recommends a somewhat obscure and sex-toy-free "Magic Wand" technique to therapistsworking with parents.Basically, according to the document, a therapist in this situation would ask stressed or concerned parents what changes they might make in their life or child's life if they had access to a mystical, Glinda-esque magical tool; this exercise, the paper adds, "allows parents to step out of their daily realities and experience the illusion of immediate power," thus allowing them to momentarily "alter the challenges they face as parents of picky toddlers, or even pregnancy challenges."Google's less-than-nuanced AI, meanwhile, seems to have picked up on some key terms used in the document the mentions of both a magic wand and pregnancy and fused the health department's advice with the vast reserves of online information about the Hitachi-made vibrator. The result? The horrifying proposition that parents should use a sex toy on kids for therapy reasons.Google,which didn't respond to 404's questions,appears to have issued a manual fix for the unsightly AI summary after the attention; when we searched the query ourselves, we were greeted by a disclaimer noting that "an AI Overview is not available for this search."The search AI's latest slip-up, though, once again raises the question: why would Google release a product this dysfunctional to the masses?After all, on the long list of things that a tech company wouldn't want its product to do, recommending that adults use a sex toy on or with children has gotta be right near the top. And if the AI search tool is issuing summaries this bad, what elsemight this thing be churning out? (That in mind: the list of Really Bad AI Overview Suggestions so far includes recommendations that Google users eat rocks, mix Elmer's Glue into pizza sauce, and smear human feces on balloons, among other responses.)As it stands, the answer to the question of why appears to be industry pressure. Google is in the throes of an industry race against competitors like OpenAI and its benefactor, Microsoft, which have infused AI into search products of their own. And as the market writ large continues to double down on AI search, it's unlikely we'll see it go away anytime soon, even if AI search results pollute and distort information in a delicate digital world while putting environmentally destructive demands for energy on the physical one.More on Google's Search AI: Google Is Failing to Meet Important Climate Targets so Its AI Can Tell You to Put Glue on PizzaShare This Article