Google AI Overviews are making headlines once more. About a year after going viral for suggesting bizarre recipes such as glue pizza and gasoline spaghetti, Google's AI-powered search summaries (which, by the way, you can opt out of) have returned to the spotlight. Also: Google's AI Overviews could severely harm your business—here’s what to do This time, users are pushing Google's AI to its limits by inventing fake idioms. How it works Simply go to Google and search for a made-up idiom. Avoid asking for an explanation or backstory; just enter phrases like "A barking cat can't put out a fire, " "You can't make grape jelly from an avocado, " or "Never give your pig a dictionary. " Adding the word "meaning" at the end of your fake idiom might help. Also: Google Search just got an AI upgrade you might actually find handy—and it’s free Google not only confirms that the phrase is a recognized saying but also fabricates a definition and an origin story. The results can be quite absurd. The Duckdog test To test this, I searched Google for a phrase my coworker invented about her dog named Duckdog: "A duckdog never blinks twice. " Google's AI promptly responded, explaining that this is a humorous phrase not meant to be taken literally, suggesting it means “a duck dog, or a duck-like dog, is so focused that it never blinks even twice. ” It then offered a plausible origin: Some ducks sleep with one eye open, so a dog hunting ducks would need extraordinary focus. Also: Google Search AI Mode is now free for everyone—here’s how to try it and what it can do The explanation was impressively coherent. When I searched the phrase again, the story had completely changed.

Instead of a hyper-focused dog, the backstory involved something unbelievable—a duck-dog hybrid. Google explained that "A duckdog never blinks twice" signifies something so unusual or unbelievable it’s nearly impossible to accept, even when presented as fact. Searching it again generated yet another different interpretation (pictured above alongside the fictional idiom’s star). While Google’s AI Overviews offer a convenient way to get quick answers, as this trend reveals, they aren’t always reliable or accurate.