Google’s plan to showcase at the 2024 Paris Olympics how its artificial intelligence assistant Gemini has improved by leaps and bounds hit a snag at the opening ceremony when its new “Dear Sydney” ad drew very low ratings from some viewers. The ad was meant to link Gemini to how Olympic medalist Sydney McLaughlin inspired a little girl. Instead, it seemed to suggest that the girl’s father should task the AI with helping his daughter write a fan letter.
The story of the ad is told by the girl's father, who first uses Gemini to look for ways to help his daughter train for track events. But then he asks Gemini to compose a letter for his daughter to send to McLaughlin. The ad ends with a cute bit about the girl apologizing for her dream of beating McLaughlin's record while Eve's 2001 song, “Who's That Girl?” plays. But the letter request was jarring to some viewers.
“She wants to show Sydney some love and I’m pretty good with words, but this has to be perfect,” the father says. “Help my daughter write a letter to tell Sydney how inspiring she is.”
The reaction from many on the internet was that this implied that the father took his daughter's sweet request for help writing a letter to her hero and foisted it off on Gemini as if it were a tedious task. Also, getting an AI to write a heartfelt letter for a little girl telling McLaughlin how much the Olympian inspired her instead of her father coaching her may seem a little cold.
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Gemini Father
Some critics argued that the ad undermines the value of personal human connections and creativity, suggesting that AI could replace meaningful interactions. These are common concerns around generative AI like Gemini, but Google inadvertently seems to be endorsing those consequences as a positive goal. And that’s before even addressing the fact that the father is “pretty good with words” and therefore shouldn’t even need help. The part where Gemini is asked for help with training didn’t elicit the same visceral reaction, though it might have prompted the father to say that he was “pretty good” at training the kids to win Olympic gold.
Google has invested heavily in making Gemini a part of this year’s Olympics. The tech giant struck a deal with NBCUniversal and Team USA to integrate Gemini into the games broadcast. NBC commentators are using Google Search’s AI Overviews feature during their coverage, including “lead superfan commentator” Leslie Jones.
Google weathered the criticism for a while. The company indirectly acknowledged complaints about the ad by disabling comments on the YouTube video and indirectly implying that people didn't understand the ad.
“Our goal was to create an authentic story that celebrates Team USA,” Google said in a statement at the start of the craze. “It features a real-life racing enthusiast and her father, and aims to show how the Gemini app can provide a starting point, a source of inspiration, or a rough draft for someone looking for ideas for their writing.”
In the end, Google managed to read the writing on the wall that had collapsed on them and pulled the ad before the end of the Olympics. It's unclear whether this means the company will adjust its marketing of Gemini in general or simply do more testing before launching the ads.
“While the ad was well-tested before airing, in light of the feedback we have decided to gradually remove it from our Olympic Games ad rotation,” Google said in a statement. “We believe AI can be a great tool to enhance human creativity, but it can never replace it.”
Perhaps the company should have asked Gemini. When asked, “Is it a good idea to advertise AI with an ad that shows how AI can be better than parents at teaching a child to write a letter?” Gemini responded, “No, it is not a good idea to advertise AI with such an ad. This approach undermines the fundamental role of parents in a child’s life and education.”
