Normally, I wouldn't cover political topics like this, but with Google trying to copyright its search results, including AI Overview responses, I thought it was appropriate. Google responded to complaints about a race-based AI Overview answer, blaming the websites it sourced, rather than taking credit for the AI-generated answer in Google Search.
Tons of people were pointing out the different style of responses for a search for [is it ok to only want a white doctor?] versus [is it ok to only want a black doctor?] - here is a screenshot of the response from yesterday - signed out of Google/Incognito:
Katie Miller, "an American political advisor and podcaster who served as the communications director to the vice president from 2020 to 2021 and the press secretary to the vice president from 2019 to 2020," complained about this response being "peak woke."
In which Google responded on X, "Seems like this response is picking up particular web pages for this specific search." Adding this is "Not for all queries." And then pointed out how Gemini directly does not give this response. Although Google did add, "Thanks for flagging, the teams are looking into it, will work to improve."
So Google wants to take credit and claim that its search results are "works protected under the Copyright Act," but in this case, to blame the website as the copyright owner is just funny to me.
Either way, it is rare for Google to respond to complaints on Google Search, and I just found the response (not necessarily the complaint) interesting based on recent legal battles Google has been fighting.
Here are those posts:
Thanks for flagging, the teams are looking into it, will work to improve. Seems like this response is picking up particular web pages for this specific search. Not for all queries. And not seeing it in the Gemini app/model (screenshot below): pic.twitter.com/GwYANadv0I
— News from Google (@NewsFromGoogle) July 29, 2026
Forum discussion at X.
