Technologies

Google’s AI Overviews Explain Made-Up Idioms With Confident Nonsense

The latest meme around generative AI’s hallucinations proves you can’t lick a badger twice.

Language can seem almost infinitely complex, with inside jokes and idioms sometimes having meaning for just a small group of people and appearing meaningless to the rest of us. Thanks to generative AI, even the meaningless found meaning this week as the internet blew up like a brook trout over the ability of Google search’s AI Overviews to define phrases never before uttered.

What, you’ve never heard the phrase «blew up like a brook trout»? Sure, I just made it up, but Google’s AI overviews result told me it’s a «colloquial way of saying something exploded or became a sensation quickly,» likely referring to the eye-catching colors and markings of the fish. No, it doesn’t make sense.

The trend may have started on Threads, where the author and screenwriter Meaghan Wilson Anastasios shared what happened when she searched «peanut butter platform heels.» Google returned a result referencing a (not real) scientific experiment in which peanut butter was used to demonstrate the creation of diamonds under high pressure.

It moved to other social media sites, like Bluesky, where people shared Google’s interpretations of phrases like «you can’t lick a badger twice.» The game: Search for a novel, nonsensical phrase with «meaning» at the end.

Things rolled on from there.

This meme is interesting for more reasons than comic relief. It shows how large language models might strain to provide an answer that sounds correct, not one that is correct.

«They are designed to generate fluent, plausible-sounding responses, even when the input is completely nonsensical,» said Yafang Li, assistant professor at the Fogelman College of Business and Economics at the University of Memphis. «They are not trained to verify the truth. They are trained to complete the sentence.»

Like glue on pizza

The fake meanings of made-up sayings bring back memories of the all too true stories about Google’s AI Overviews giving incredibly wrong answers to basic questions — like when it suggested putting glue on pizza to help the cheese stick.

This trend seems at least a bit more harmless because it doesn’t center on actionable advice. I mean, I for one hope nobody tries to lick a badger once, much less twice. The problem behind it, however, is the same — a large language model, like Google’s Gemini behind AI Overviews, tries to answer your questions and offer a feasible response. Even if what it gives you is nonsense.

A Google spokesperson said AI Overviews are designed to display information supported by top web results, and that they have an accuracy rate comparable to other search features.

«When people do nonsensical or ‘false premise’ searches, our systems will try to find the most relevant results based on the limited web content available,» the Google spokesperson said. «This is true of search overall, and in some cases, AI Overviews will also trigger in an effort to provide helpful context.»

This particular case is a «data void,» where there isn’t a lot of relevant information available for the search query. The spokesperson said Google is working on limiting when AI Overviews appear on searches without enough information and preventing them from providing misleading, satirical or unhelpful content. Google uses information about queries like these to better understand when AI Overviews should and should not appear.

You won’t always get a made-up definition if you ask for the meaning of a fake phrase. When drafting the heading of this section, I searched «like glue on pizza meaning,» and it didn’t trigger an AI Overview.

The problem doesn’t appear to be universal across LLMs. I asked ChatGPT for the meaning of «you can’t lick a badger twice» and it told me the phrase «isn’t a standard idiom, but it definitely sounds like the kind of quirky, rustic proverb someone might use.» It did, though, try to offer a definition anyway, essentially: «If you do something reckless or provoke danger once, you might not survive to do it again.»

Read more: AI Essentials: 27 Ways to Make Gen AI Work for You, According to Our Experts

Pulling meaning out of nowhere

This phenomenon is an entertaining example of LLMs’ tendency to make stuff up — what the AI world calls «hallucinating.» When a gen AI model hallucinates, it produces information that sounds like it could be plausible or accurate but isn’t rooted in reality.

LLMs are «not fact generators,» Li said, they just predict the next logical bits of language based on their training.

A majority of AI researchers in a recent survey reported they doubt AI’s accuracy and trustworthiness issues would be solved soon.

The fake definitions show not just the inaccuracy but the confident inaccuracy of LLMs. When you ask a person for the meaning of a phrase like «you can’t get a turkey from a Cybertruck,» you probably expect them to say they haven’t heard of it and that it doesn’t make sense. LLMs often react with the same confidence as if you’re asking for the definition of a real idiom.

In this case, Google says the phrase means Tesla’s Cybertruck «is not designed or capable of delivering Thanksgiving turkeys or other similar items» and highlights «its distinct, futuristic design that is not conducive to carrying bulky goods.» Burn.

This humorous trend does have an ominous lesson: Don’t trust everything you see from a chatbot. It might be making stuff up out of thin air, and it won’t necessarily indicate it’s uncertain.

«This is a perfect moment for educators and researchers to use these scenarios to teach people how the meaning is generated and how AI works and why it matters,» Li said. «Users should always stay skeptical and verify claims.»

Be careful what you search for

Since you can’t trust an LLM to be skeptical on your behalf, you need to encourage it to take what you say with a grain of salt.

«When users enter a prompt, the model just assumes it’s valid and then proceeds to generate the most likely accurate answer for that,» Li said.

The solution is to introduce skepticism in your prompt. Don’t ask for the meaning of an unfamiliar phrase or idiom. Ask if it’s real. Li suggested you ask «is this a real idiom?»

«That may help the model to recognize the phrase instead of just guessing,» she said.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Friday, Sept. 19

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Sept. 19.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

I didn’t get off to a great start with today’s Mini Crossword, completely blanking on 1-Across. Thankfully, the other clues were easy, and that answer filled itself in. Need some help? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Cancel on plans at the last moment
Answer: FLAKE

6A clue: Shade of light purple
Answer: LILAC

7A clue: ___ acid (protein builder)
Answer: AMINO

8A clue: Sarcastic «Yeah, sure»
Answer: IBET

9A clue: Sardonic boss on «Parks and Recreation»
Answer: RON

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Stylish panache
Answer: FLAIR

2D clue: Party game that tests how low you can go
Answer: LIMBO

3D clue: Visitor from outer space
Answer: ALIEN

4D clue: Philosopher who posed the question «What can I know?»
Answer: KANT

5D clue: Environmentally friendly prefix
Answer: ECO

Technologies

Your Old Android Isn’t Dead. These Tweaks Can Bring It Back to Life

Clear space, optimize your battery and update the basics. These quick changes can make an old Android phone feel snappier.

You don’t need the latest Android flagship to get good performance.

Thanks to longer software support from brands like Google and Samsung, older models can still run smoothly, as long as you give them a little attention. Clearing out unused apps, updating your software and tweaking a few settings can breathe new life into a device that feels sluggish. These quick fixes can help your phone last longer and save you from spending on an early upgrade.

Before you start shopping for a replacement, try a few simple adjustments. You might be surprised by how much faster your phone feels once you free up space, optimize battery use and turn off background drains.

Whether you use a Samsung Galaxy, Motorola or OnePlus phone, chances are you can still improve battery life and overall speed without buying something new. Just remember that Android settings vary slightly from brand to brand, so the menus may look a little different depending on your phone.

Don’t miss any of CNET’s unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add us as a preferred Google source on Chrome.

Settings to improve your battery life

Living with a phone that has poor battery life can be infuriating, but there are some steps you can take to maximize each charge right from the very beginning:

1. Turn off auto screen brightness or adaptive brightness and set the brightness level slider to under 50%

The brighter your screen, the more battery power it uses.

To get to the setting, pull down the shortcut menu from the top of the screen and adjust the slider, if it’s there. Some phones may have a toggle for auto brightness in the shortcut panel; otherwise, you need to open the settings app and search for «brightness» to find the setting and turn it off.

2. Use Adaptive Battery and Battery Optimization

These features focus on learning how you use your phone, including which apps you use and when, and then optimizing the apps and the amount of battery they use.

Some Android phones have a dedicated Battery section in the Settings app, while other phones (looking at you, Samsung) bury these settings. It’s a little different for each phone. I recommend opening your settings and searching for «battery» to find the right screen. Your phone may also have an adaptive charging setting that can monitor how quickly your phone battery charges overnight to preserve its health.

Why you should use dark mode more often

Another way to improve battery life while also helping save your eyes is to use Android’s dedicated dark mode. Any Android phone running Android 10 or newer will have a dedicated dark mode option.

According to Google, dark mode not only reduces the strain that smartphone displays cause on our eyes but also improves battery life because it takes less power to display dark backgrounds on OLED displays (used in most flagship phones) than a white background.

Depending on which version of Android your phone is running, and what company made your phone, you may have to dig around the settings app to find a dark mode. If your phone runs Android 10 or newer, you’ll be able to turn on system-wide dark mode. If it runs Android 9, don’t despair. Plenty of apps have their own dark mode option in the settings that you can use, whether or not you have Android 10.

To turn it on dark mode, open the Settings app and search for Dark Mode, Dark Theme or even Night Mode (as Samsung likes to call it). I suggest using dark mode all the time, but if you’re not sure, you can always set dark mode to automatically turn on based on a schedule, say from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. every day, or allow it to automatically switch based on your location at sunset and sunrise.

Keep your home screen free of clutter

Planning to hit up the Google Play Store for a bunch of new Android apps? Be prepared for a lot of icon clutter on your home screen, which is where shortcuts land every time you install something.

If you don’t want that, there’s a simple way out of this: Long-press on an empty area of your home screen and tap Settings. Find the option labeled something along the lines of Add icon to Home Screen or Add new apps to Home Screen and turn it off.

Presto! No more icons on the home screen when you install new apps. You can still add shortcuts by dragging an app’s icon out of the app drawer, but they won’t appear on your home screen unless you want them to.

Read more: Best Android Phones You Can Buy in 2024

Set up Do Not Disturb so that you can better focus

If your phone routinely spends the night on your nightstand, you probably don’t want it beeping or buzzing every time there’s a call, message or Facebook alert — especially when you’re trying to sleep. Android offers a Do Not Disturb mode that will keep the phone more or less silent during designated hours. On some phones, this is referred to as the Downtime setting or even Quiet Time.

Head to Settings > Sounds (or Notifications), then look for Do Not Disturb or a similar name. If you can’t find it, search for it using the built-in search feature in your settings.

Using the feature, you can set up a range of hours when you want to turn off the digital noise. Don’t worry, any notifications you get while Do Not Disturb is turned on will still be waiting for you when you wake up. Also, you can typically make an exception that allows repeat callers and favorite contacts’ calls to go through. Turn that on. If someone is calling you in an emergency, odds are they are going to keep trying.

Always be prepared in case you lose your phone or it’s stolen

Is there anything worse than a lost or stolen phone? Only the knowledge that you could have tracked it down if you had turned on Google’s Find My Device feature.

To prepare for a successful recovery, here’s what you need to do: Open the Settings app and then search for Find My Device. It’s usually in the Security section of the Settings app.

If you have a Samsung device, you can use Samsung’s Find My Mobile service, which is found in Settings > Biometrics and security > Find My Mobile.

Once that’s enabled, you can head to android.com/find from any PC or mobile device and sign in to your account. Samsung users can visit findmymobile.samsung.com to find a lost phone.

If you have trouble setting any of this up, be sure to read our complete guide to finding a lost Android phone.

Assuming your phone is on and online, you should be able to see its location on a map. From there, you can make it ring, lock it, set a lock screen note to tell whoever has it how to get it back to you, or, worst-case scenario, remotely wipe the whole thing.

And always keep your phone up to date

As obvious as it may seem, a simple software update could fix bugs and other issues slowing down your Android device.

Before you download and install the latest software update, make sure your device is connected to Wi-Fi, or else this won’t work.

Now, open the Settings application and type in Update. You’ll then either see Software update or System update — choose either one. Then just download the software, wait for a few minutes and install it when it’s ready. Your Android device will reboot and install the latest software update available.

There’s a lot more to learn about a new phone. Here are the best ways to boost your cell signal, and here’s a flagship phone head-to-head comparison. Plus, check out CNET’s list of the best cases for your Samsung phone. More of an Apple fan? We have tips for boosting your iPhone’s performance, too.

Technologies

Your Pixel 10 Might Have Issues With Older Wireless Chargers

You might want to try taking the case off your phone in order to successfully charge it.

When Google introduced the Pixel 10 lineup in August, it became one of the first major Android phones to receive the Qi 2 wireless charging standard, which Google calls Pixelsnap. However, users noticed issues with wireless charging on the Pixel 10 almost immediately after its release.

Some people are having trouble charging their phone with the new Pixelsnap charger, and others are having issues with older wireless chargers, including Google’s own Pixel Stands. The bulk of the problems happen when a case is on the phone — whether it has the magnet array or not.

I own both the first and second generation Pixel Stands and both will charge my Pixel 10 Pro XL without an issue if there’s no case on it. However, when I add a case to my phone, the problems begin.

I have three cases for my phone, the Mous Super Thin Clear Case, the Magnetic Slim Case Fit by Grecazo, and a no-name soft TPU case. If my phone has any of those cases on and I attempt to charge it while it’s vertical, it starts to charge and then stops after a second or two, and keeps doing that.

I can fix this for the first-generation Pixel Stand by turning the phone horizontal, but it will still charge very slowly. I can’t seem to fix it at all for the Pixel Stand 2 — vertical, horizontal, it doesn’t charge.

Not everyone has this issue

The problem doesn’t seem to be universal. CNET editor Patrick Holland said he had no issues charging the Pixel 10 Pro during his time with it.

A Google spokesperson told me the Pixel 10 lineup is not optimized for older Qi wireless charging standards, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the phones won’t work with older wireless chargers.

Qi 2 is backwards-compatible with older standards, but the phone’s height and charging coil placement on both the phone and the charger are still factors. If you’re having problems, you might see if removing the case helps.

The prospect of potentially needing to replace your older wireless chargers with newer ones isn’t ideal, especially if you shelled out $80 for one or both of Google’s own Pixel Stands. Still, if you want the best wireless charging speed for your brand new Pixel 10 phone, it won’t be with wireless chargers that only support older Qi standards.