May 16, 2024: the Day Google Decided to Incorporate AI(?) Into Their Search Engine

Last night at about 2 AM, I went to the Google website and my home page to access their search engine. The prompt was "Sudoku Strategies." Here is the response.

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Here are some tips for solving Sudoku puzzles:

- Look for easy solutions: Many puzzles have one or two empty spaces in a box or line.

- Scan the entire puzzle: Don't focus on one part of the grid if you get stuck.

- Re-evaluate the grid: After placing a new number, see if it opens up a new row or box.

- Use the scanning method: Pick a number and look at the rows and columns that contain it. Try to find all the boxes where the number can't be placed, leaving the one box where it should be.

- Look for hidden pairs: Find hidden pairs of numbers in inner boxes, columns, and rows.

- Be patient: Some puzzles are big and complicated, so you should have the patience to keep going.

- Set a timer: Use at least a six-minute timer to finish each puzzle without rushing.

- Follow your momentum: Keep moving from block to block to find possible playing opportunities.

What Google gave through its AI assistant differed from what I wanted or was looking for. The response below is formulated by plagiarizing data on the web to produce this response. Some links followed, but what is so upsetting is that Google is now part and parcel with other companies committing information theft regularly today. I find the idea of this change to the Google search engine revolting and useless because the engine is now making "informed" decisions about what its non-human algorithm calculates as the information it should provide me based on the prompt. I did not want the response the search engine confabulated. So I immediately closed Firefox my browser and installed DuckDuckGo, a safer browser given Google's efforts to record the activities of individuals using their search engine.

I can only hope that intelligent people worldwide have the same reaction to this situation that I experienced. They should make a statement and stop using the Google search engine immediately until Google makes using AI in their products optional instead of imposed.

Google Search is no longer a tool I would select to search for data, information, and knowledge on the Internet.

(This may seem silly on my part; if you think so, you are entitled to your opinion. The people who are involved in the promulgation of this technology are doing so by making many false and unsubstantiated claims. To me, they serve as modern-day examples of snake oil salespeople. There is no proof of what they say, and they are manufacturing hyperbole to generate false excitement about what this AI is all about. There are many unanswered questions that the principles behind current AI efforts have not responded to, and they will not respond to any of the questions or concerns. One can only believe the motivation for this activity is simply money. To think that any of the prognostications made by the AI promoters is to believe in an ever-growing fantasy. In the time this so-called new generation of technology existed, no new technical developments existed. One should remember that the fundamental technology on which this AI is based is more than 30 years old and has already failed twice before).

May Google rest in peace.

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Randy (aka the renguy)