Anyone who has been watching the Olympics on Peacock this year without Olympic-level reflexes with their mute button hates the Google commercial for its AI, Gemini. Luckily, the ad is officially dunzo, per THR. “While the ad tested well before airing, given the feedback, we have decided to phase the ad out of our Olympics rotation,†a Google spokesperson told the publication. It’s been playing throughout the Games, featuring a father whose daughter idolizes 400m hurdle queen Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. The feedback, for reference, included media professor Shelly Palmer saying the commercial made her “want to scream†and the Washington Post writing, “This ad makes me want to throw a sledgehammer into the television.â€
“Wait, wait,†the non-Olympics watchers are likely saying. “What’s wrong with a commercial in which a young girl idolizes a fabulous runner?†Well, her father decides to ask Gemini, a chatbot, to write a fan letter to McLaughlin-Levrone. At no point is it implied that the daughter contributed to the letter in any way. Instead, it appears that Daddy typed in a prompt and a robot spit out some words that are a … lie? That’s a lie, right? But we are all marked safe from watching this for the rest of the Games, and McLaughlin-Levrone’s impeccable reputation doesn’t have to be tarnished.