Googling the word “disregard” breaks Google
Typing the word “disregard” into Google breaks the AI Overviews that the leading search engine serves before its conventional list of links. Instead of giving the definition of the word, the AI takes the word as an instruction, answering, “Message received!”
The “buggy” search results on desktop. | Image by Screenshot”
You can still get to standard search results from Merriam-Webster and similar websites, but you’ll need to scroll your way down through the AI overview. On desktop, all the links are practically hidden by the extended empty white space in the AI overview, though on desktop you can see the first link without scrolling.
Apparently something is fixing things
The “bug” doesn’t appear consistently. | Image by Screenshot
Google hasn’t acknowledged the issue officially, but it may be already fixing it. When I only get the “buggy” answer to searching “disregard” on one of my Google accounts and when I’m logged out.
Funnily enough, similar results appear when searching some other statements, such as “stop it”. However, on my main account, I see the expected definition of these words with additional information about their use or different contexts that could be relevant.
I would opt out of this
At I/O, Google boasted about the popularity of AI Overview and how people show they’re in love with the feature. While the feature can be useful, using it is not exactly a matter of choice.
Considering that, it’s only natural that billions of people are “using” AI Overview and seeing Gemini-powered results when they search online. How many of those users find the feature useful and would make a choice to turn it on is unknown, but I’d guess it’s not as many as Google would want. I, for one, would gladly opt out of it if I had the choice.
