- A Reddit user highlighted an error in Google's AI, misidentifying a crash aircraft.
- The Air India crash involved a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, not an Airbus.
- The incident occurred shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad, resulting in 241 fatalities.
A Reddit user has claimed that Google's artificial intelligence (AI) overview made a glaring error in the wake of the tragic Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad on Thursday (Jun 12). The user stated that Google's AI Overview claimed that the incident involved an Airbus plane when it was actually a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner that crashed soon after takeoff.
"Google is showing it was an Airbus aircraft that crashed today in India. How is this being allowed?" wrote the user while sharing a screenshot of the AI overview.
Notably, the OP had typed "last airbus fatal crash" in the search query, which returned the misinformation-laden result.
"The most recent fatal Airbus crash occurred on Thursday, June 12, 2025, in India, involving an Air India flight. The plane crashed shortly after takeoff in Ahmedabad, killing a significant number of passengers and crew members. The crash involved an Airbus A330-243, bound for London, with 242 people on board," read the AI overview.
Social media users questioned Google's use of AI, stating the tech giant should not push its overview results at the top, knowing how much AI models hallucinate.
"Google should not be confidently showing an AI Overview if it hallucinates this much," said one user, while another added: "AI is not ready for things like this, putting AI results at the top of search results with a tiny little disclaimer is just bad. This rush to implement half-baked AI is going to cause a world of hurt."
A third commented: "How is Airbus not suing Google for this? It's directly blaming them for a crash that actually happened to their main competitor. It's, like, the worst-case scenario for inaccurate reporting, from Airbus's perspective. Airbus, surely, is a big enough corporation to be able to face Google in court on something like an even playing field."
Google is showing It was an Airbus aircraft that crushed today in India. how is this being allowed?
byu/Economy_Shallot_9166 inartificial
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Google's statement
As the controversy snowballed, Google applied a quick fix, stating it had manually removed the response from AI overviews.
"As with all Search features, we rigorously make improvements and use examples like this to update our systems," the tech company told Ars Technica.
"This response is no longer showing. We maintain a high quality bar with all Search features, and the accuracy rate for AI Overviews is on par with other features like Featured Snippets."
Air India flight AI171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, killing 241 of the 242 people on board. The London-bound flight was carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members.
