Google Document Leak and AI Failures | Pivot

1. KSKara Swisher0:00

   Google is dealing with the fallout from a massive leak after 2,500 pages of documents from inside its search division were shared by SEO experts. The documents detail the data that Google collects from websites and users. They offer an unprecedented look at the search process and how content is ranked. Uh, Google is saying, of course, that, uh, these are out of context, da, da, da. Um, the documents suggest that Google might have misled the public in terms of ranking content. Uh, uh, i- i- it denied in, uh, in the past that users click- clicks play a role in ranking websites, but leaked documents indicate otherwise. They're saying actually it's not what it says. Um, it's not, it's not, uh, the best thing, uh, t- at the same time, it has an AI problem on its hands, speaking of the current days. That's their, it's old business. The company is scaling back on the new, uh, AI overviews feature, the one that put some wildly incorrect AI-generated answers at the top of search results. Some are correct, let's be fair. Uh, some of the major reported errors included users being told to put glue on pizza, that was the famous one, and a claim that John F. Kennedy graduated from college in 1993. Um, wow, there's a lot going on at Google. Um, uh, they're gonna disable the misleading advice, uh, limiting answers from some sites. Um, they had a similar problem with their image tool, if you remember. It was too woke, whatever. Um, y- you know, uh, these things work themselves out. My issue with these companies is, uh, away from the, the leaked documents, is they're always beta testing on users without putting out products that are fully baked. That's always been my experience with Silicon Valley. Um, I don't think this is a good look for Google. It makes it look like they're not competitive with Microsoft, OpenAI, and Meta. Um, thoughts?

2. SGScott Galloway1:41

   Uh, I'll turn it back to you, and, uh, my only observation, 'cause I think you know more about this than I do, the... my only observation is that it feels, from, uh, observations of a bystander, that Google got caught flat-footed, and their investors and the entire world said, "Let me get this. It was invented here and everyone's making trillions but us." And I think that the ultimate, like, hurry up and catch up, like, you better hurry up, has resulted in kind of a ready-

3. KSKara Swisher2:07

   Mm-hmm.

4. SGScott Galloway2:07

   ... ready, fire, aim mentality that's haunting them a little bit, 'cause I think they feel real pressure-

5. KSKara Swisher2:12

   Mm-hmm.

6. SGScott Galloway2:12

   ... to catch up, and-

7. KSKara Swisher2:14

   They do. People internally are telling them, "What's going on?"

8. SGScott Galloway2:15

   I w- I just can't imagine that QA hasn't been a little bit more promiscuous here, 'cause they need to show their investors that they are catching up. What, what... but, you know this so much better than I do. I, I, I know nothing about this.

9. KSKara Swisher2:25

   Well, you know, these leaks, these search leaks, this... Google has always sort of been such a performative company in terms of, "We're the better people. We're the..." you know, "Don't be evil." They always had that nonsense when you knew, you know, they were doing all kinds of stuff behind the scenes that weren't in line with what they said they were doing. Um, this search leak is interesting and it's an important and big deal that they had been sort of doing search in a different way. Now, again, it's only 2,500 pages. They're older, some of them. Um, the fact that they were doing th- whether user clicks played a role in ranking websites, um, they had in- i- they had insisted they were giving you the best things versus what was most popular, as I recall. Um, I'm not sure if the leak is that damaging, but it does suggest, you know, that they weren't being fully honest with people, which is, I think, a, a disease of all these companies, completely a disease of all these companies. I'm not so much focused on that, although it is interesting. Um, but you're right. This is, this... they, they have been slow, slow, slow, and I think a lot of people are complaining about CEO Sundar Pichai as being indecisive. I think that's been a take on him for many years now, um, and not being fast enough. And I, you know, I've had that experience when he, when he... they were very slow to cloud. I had lunch with him. I'm like, "Why exactly are you letting A- AWS dominate when you have much m- this is your area." You know? And he was like, "Well..." You know, he's a very considered person, and I think in this case, they shouldn't be putting out products that, that are embarrassing, 'cause they're a worldwide... I mean, they're, they're the most consumer-facing of all these companies, more than Microsoft, M- Meta, I suppose. Um, but they're the most consumer-facing, and they're known... What I thought was amazing is, this is a company known for searching and getting you the answer you want by pointing you to the answer. Then they give you the answer and it's wrong. It ruins the brand in seconds, right? Isn't that their whole promise of being correct, or being helpful? I, I don't know. From a brand perspective, I think it's disastrous.

10. SGScott Galloway4:26

    Yeah, but narratives have momentum, and the momentum-

11. KSKara Swisher4:28

    Mm-hmm.

12. SGScott Galloway4:28

    ... is against Sundar and Alphabet right now. They're seen as-

13. KSKara Swisher4:31

    Yeah.

14. SGScott Galloway4:31

    ... they're seen as, uh, being disrupted in the classic case of the innovator's dilemma, where they didn't wanna challenge this tollbooth called search and let other people come around them and disrupt it. But, uh, so, so the, the narrative is negative. And some of the things you were talking about, uh, where he's... he "doesn't make decisions quickly," if the narrative was positive, everyone would be saying that he's a thoughtful, mature business leader that the world needs right now. 'Cause if you look at the numbers, the actual numbers, the stock is up 37% in the last 12 months. I mean, th- the company continues to perform. It's touching... I'm... I think the stock is at an all-time high. It's outperformed even the S&P. Uh, I, I think, quite frankly, I think these stories are a little bit bullshit. I think they make for clickbait. I think they're embarrassing.

15. KSKara Swisher5:17

    Hmm. Interesting.

16. SGScott Galloway5:18

    But, uh, and you're right, it might impact the brand 'cause the media picks up on it, 'cause they're funny and it's like seeing-

17. KSKara Swisher5:23

    They are funny.

18. SGScott Galloway5:24

    ... it's tabloid.

19. KSKara Swisher5:25

    Mm-hmm.

20. SGScott Galloway5:25

    But the reality is, they continue to perform. This was, this was my big tech stock pick for 2024.

21. KSKara Swisher5:30

    Yeah.

22. SGScott Galloway5:31

    They are firing on i-... they have not given up any ground on search. Their cloud business is, you know, firing on all 12,000 cylinders. YouTube is the most dominant video platform among young people, and they are trying fast to catch up in AI. I, I don't... the narrative i- right now is, is, is bad, and momentum is against them, but the, the data gets in the way of the narrative here. This company is performing really well.

23. KSKara Swisher5:56

    Yeah, that's a fair point. That's a fair point. I just don't think s- a thing like this leak comes out when they're under the Justice Department scrutiny, and-

24. SGScott Galloway6:03

    Mm-hmm.

25. KSKara Swisher6:03

    ... this idea, it works well for the people that are trying to slow them down, for... definitely for the Justice Department, right? It shows-

26. SGScott Galloway6:10

    Hmm.

27. KSKara Swisher6:10

    ... it shows them, you know, saying one thing and doing another. I think it's, um, someone... the guy who... one of the people who leaked this information, I think, or he had this information. What was this guy's name? Fishkin is a veteran search engine optimization industry told the, the, The Verge, um, you know, here's the last part, which I thought was important. "Journalists and publishers of information about SEO and Google Search need to stop uncritically repeating Google's public statements and take a much harsher, more adversarial view of the search giant's representatives. When publications repeat Google's claims that... as though they were fact, they're helping Google spin a story that's only useful to the company and not to practitioners, users, or public." The reason why that is important is 'cause th- everybody... that is a black box nobody gets to see the inside of.

28. SGScott Galloway6:52

    Yeah, I agree.

29. KSKara Swisher6:52

    And they're just starting to see it, right? And that's... and it, it... you know, it's not what they were told.

30. SGScott Galloway6:56

    W- where... did a lot of people get those sort of erroneous answers? I mean, how many consumers were actually exposed to that?

Episode duration: 7:19