Before the weekend the internet began questioning why Google Home, Google Assistant or Google search would not give you the answer to [who is jesus]. It actually blew up a bit, so much so, Google had to respond and explain the reason was because Google responds often with featured snippets or Wikipedia and featured snippets and Wikipedia can sometimes be vandalized and thus, Google can get in trouble by reading the wrong answer from the web.
Google posted their official response on the new SearchLiaison account over here saying:
The reason the Google Assistant didn't respond with information about "Who is Jesus" or "Who is Jesus Christ" wasn't out of disrespect but instead to ensure respect. Some of the Assistant's spoken resources come from the web and for certain topics, this content can be more vulnerable to vandalism and spam. If our systems detect such circumstances, the Assistant might not reply. If similar vulnerabilities were detected for other questions -- including those about other religious leaders -- the Assistant also wouldn't respond. We're exploring different solutions and temporarily disabling these responses for religious figures on the Assistant.
So if you try it for "who is Muhammad" now you will get the same response as "who is Jesus."
Google will respond: ""Religion Can Be Complicated and I'm Still Learning"
Some have noticed the Google Assistant wouldn’t respond for “Who is Jesus.” This wasn’t out of disrespect but to ensure respect. Some Assistant replies come from the web. It might not reply in cases where web content is more vulnerable to vandalism & spam. Our full statement: pic.twitter.com/7iu1D8FEEK
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) January 26, 2018
Like it or not, this, in my opinion, does make the most sense at this point. The alliterative can be way more embarrassing for Google.
Forum discussion at Twitter.
