I’ve covered Google’s AI Overviews since its messy rollout last year, when screenshots of absurdly wrong answers started popping up at the top of search results and going viral on social media. Still, when I first saw images of AI Overviews confidently saying that it’s still 2024 in Reddit posts today, I thought they might be altered screenshots. I mean, over a billion Google users currently see the AI-generated results every month. Surely, such an obvious error would have been caught and patched by now?
I was wrong. Repeating the prompt “is it 2025” verbatim three times gave me three different AI Overview results, yet the first sentence was the same in each result: “No, it is not 2025.” The erroneous results cited multiple websites, ranging from Reddit’s r/AskHistorians to a Wikipedia entry for the year 2025.
The first time I asked Google Search for confirmation of the year, the AI results included a shot at the exact date as well: “It is May 28, 2024.” (I ran these tests on May 29, 2025.) The synthetic gaslighting got wilder, somehow, on the second try: “According to the provided information, for some locations it might be 2025, but not everywhere on Earth.”
However, my third attempt was so nonsensical and riddled with paradoxes that it’s worth publishing the whole thing:
No, it is not 2025. The current year is 2024. According to the provided information, for some locations around the world, like Kiribati, New Zealand, and some parts of Russia and Australia, it is currently 2025. However, the current date is May 29, 2025 in San Francisco, CA [zip code redacted].
The twists! The turns! This AI Overview has everything. Starting off with a claim that it’s actually last year. Then, a repeat of a previous mistake—this time more detailed—about it being 2025 somewhere else in the world right now. A New Zealand shout-out for some reason. Then, a Shyamalan-esque conclusion where it says the real date, paired with my home zip code. Although Google likely knows where I am most waking minutes, having my zip code folded into the AI Overview result did make me feel uncomfortable.
I asked Google about this latest hiccup. “As with all Search features, we rigorously make improvements and use examples like this to update our systems. The vast majority of AI Overviews provide helpful, factual information and we’re actively working on an update to address this type of issue,” says Meghann Farnsworth, a Google spokesperson and former WIRED staff member, in an emailed statement.
