Google Pulls Controversial ‘Dear Sydney’ Gemini AI Ad From NBC Olympics Rotation After Backlash: ‘Who Wants an AI-Written Fan Letter??’

variety.com:

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Google has yanked an ad from NBC’s Olympics broadcasts meant to highlight the power of its Gemini AI tool — but which critics blasted as bizarrely tone-deaf. In the 60-second ad, “Dear Sydney,” a father wants to help his daughter write a letter to her idol, Olympic track star Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.

In a voiceover, the dad says his daughter “might even be the world’s No. 1 Sydney fan.” (According to Google, the father and daughter are real-life people.) Then, in a jarring turn of events, he asks Google’s Gemini AI to “help my daughter write a letter telling Sydney how inspiring she is and be sure to mention that my daughter plans on breaking her world record one day.

(She says sorry, not sorry.)” Criticism of the Google ad was nearly immediate after it began airing across NBCU networks starting last week, with commenters focused on the absurdity of using AI to produce a heartfelt missive to a personal hero. “Obviously there are special circumstances and people who need help, but as a general ‘look how cool, she didn’t even have to write anything herself!’ story, it SUCKS,” Linda Holmes, a novelist and host of podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, wrote in a July 27 post on Threads.

“Who wants an AI-written fan letter??” In a statement, a Google rep said, “While the ad tested well before airing, given the feedback, we have decided to phase the ad out of our Olympics rotation.” The “Dear Sydney” spot is still available on Google’s YouTube account (at this link). At the same time, Google continued to defend the spot, which was created by its in-house creative team, saying in a statement: “We believe that AI can be a great tool for enhancing human creativity, but can never replace it.