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Google increasingly is promoting a single answer for many questions

wsj.com

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Re: Google increasingly is promoting a single answer for many questions

#51

Post by JadeNB »

imgabe wrote: post #34
dTal wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not even sure Google's behaviour is wrong in this instance. The kind of person who would google something as obvious as that is probably actually more interested in the woo-answer, and I don't neccesarily think it's Google's job to be the woo-police (as appealing as that sounds, it's risky unless they can do a 100% accurate job). To illustrate with another example, if I ask Google where the government is hiding t…

A correct answer is better than an answer someone is interested in. For example "Is Obama a Muslim?". Someone googling that might be interested in hearing something that reaffirms their preconceived notions, but we as a society would be better off if they were provided with correct information.

> A correct answer is better than an answer someone is interested in. For example "Is Obama a Muslim?". Someone googling that might be interested in hearing something that reaffirms their preconceived notions, but we as a society would be better off if they were provided with correct information.

While I totally agree with the statement that it is better for society that people receive correct than reassuring information, I think the relevant question—not in terms of ethics, but in terms of what will happen—is whether Google feels it is better for them.

(It may also be fair to note that some questions don't have a correct answer, or that the answer isn't known, or that there is controversy, in which case I hope very much that Google doesn't get in the business of deciding what is the best answer, but simply neutrally points me to what is out there.)

Re: Google increasingly is promoting a single answer for many questions

#52

Post by SloopJon »

After the Vox music player changed from freeware to freemium, I searched for something like "best free flac player mac 2017". It took me a moment to realize that the featured result was one vendor's self-serving comparison with competitors.

I'm prepared for half of the results to a query like that to be littered with affiliate links, but I wasn't expecting a featured result like that.

Re: Google increasingly is promoting a single answer for many questions

#53

Post by DarkCrusader2 »

dTal wrote: post #28
muzani wrote: post #20

My favorite example is "are lemons acidic?" It's full of "alkaline diet" sites trying to SEO itself into convincing people that lemons are good for you because they're an alkaline. It's become a little less inaccurate over the years but is still dodgy. Then again the answers are so consistent and I'm so used to trusting the first page of Google that I'm almost convinced that lemons alkalinize your body.

I'm not even sure Google's behaviour is wrong in this instance. The kind of person who would google something as obvious as that is probably actually more interested in the woo-answer, and I don't neccesarily think it's Google's job to be the woo-police (as appealing as that sounds, it's risky unless they can do a 100% accurate job). To illustrate with another example, if I ask Google where the government is hiding t…

> The kind of person who would google something as obvious as that

Yes, no kid is ever gonna google that. While we are at it, let's show that earth is flat when someone google for image of earth's curvature because why would you search that. You obviously are a flat-earther.

Re: Google increasingly is promoting a single answer for many questions

#54

Post by Kurtz79 »

jgalt212 wrote: post #36
johnhenry wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure what the margin of error is on these things, but generally 97% should probably be considered 100%.

a parser that is 97% correct is broken.

A parser (assuming you are talking about a programming language parser) has the luxury of having highly structured and deterministic inputs, and to be able to refuse giving an "answer" if they are not.

Re: Google increasingly is promoting a single answer for many questions

#55

Post by fixermark »

jacksmith21006 wrote: post #12
melling wrote: post #7

Single answers is basically what's needed for Alex, Google Home, etc. I was surprised that Google beat Alexa. Siri was horrible. I haven't purchased a home voice device yet because I wanted it to get a little better. However, I'm not sure if there will be much improvement in the device itself. The real work is on the server.

Surprised Google beat Alexa? I have had the Echo since late 2014 and now several Google Homes. For understanding you and answering questions Google is well ahead of Amazon. But you find this surprising? This is what Google does and has for almost 20 years now.

It was one of the driving factors of the Goog-411 project: building a robust database of low-quality real-world voice samples for training up language recognition software.

Re: Google increasingly is promoting a single answer for many questions

#56

Post by jamiesonbecker »

A lot of these answers seem to be borne of algorithmic consensus of top-ranked sites. There are probably worse ways to go about it, but in many ways Google has to take sides on ideas or concepts that are still strongly debated. Consensus does not create or prove facts, even if it's a strong signal. There are certainly things that I strongly believe that you do not. Does that make my beliefs (or yours) any less valid (until we're confronted with sufficient evidence to change our views), even if one of us has to be wrong?

* Are there sea monsters? Aliens?

* Is there a God?

* Is there a multiverse?

Historically, there was so many things that were 'consensus' concepts that were just flat (oops) wrong. Google would have gotten all of these wrong..

* What happens when you sail over the edge of the earth?

* What's holding up the earth?

* Is the earth the center of the universe?

How about:

* Is the speed of light a fixed constant?

* How much statistical error is introduced into carbon dating when extrapolating behind more than a few hundred years?

* Is cracking my knuckles bad?

How about this one, if it was listed on thousands of spammy self-help sites: "recent studies have shown that it's beneficial to drink gasoline in small quantities." (please do not drink gasoline. That's insane.)

Should Google be liable for those answers that are now coming from its site, with the authority of the world's dominant answer generator, instead of the third-party site that's spouting nonsense? (yes.)

Really, though, Google's answers are probably as good as any until we learn everything about everything and finally agree on everything. Even if they are self-serving to keep you on Google and not send you to a third-party site to get your answer.

Re: Google increasingly is promoting a single answer for many questions

#57

Post by ebola1717 »

alister wrote: post #15

Google's instant answers are generally pretty good in my opinion, but in situations where the answer really matters, it could cause dangerous situations in the cases where Google does get it wrong. A good example is how Google chose the wrong picture on how to do cable crimping: https://imgur.com/a/H3Uhg Regarding the example above, Google's answer with a picture looks clear and sounds very authoritative. No further…

I’ve found it pretty unreliable. I was researching Teflon pans the other day, and all the instant answers were myths about how Teflon pans will give you cancer. And when you click no the sites, it’s usually clear if their answer is at all reliable or not. Stuff like that means I always have to do more work with instant answers than if I just ignore it.

Re: Google increasingly is promoting a single answer for many questions

#58

Post by philipodonnell »

Obviously context is important in pieces like this, as others pointed out, and I can't read it because stupid paywalls, but...

There should be some real anti-trust concerns with Google providing answers to questions itself. Google gets those answers by crawling sites with content owned by others. It has avoided copyright issues by arguing that they only show a snippet of the content to aid finding the best search result, thus it is not reproduced in whole or in part, but that the searcher will still visit the page and benefit the copyright owner.

If Google just gives you the answer and there's no need to visit the page, then that is a much bigger issue I think.

Re: Google increasingly is promoting a single answer for many questions

#59

Post by tintor »

jamiesonbecker wrote: post #56

A lot of these answers seem to be borne of algorithmic consensus of top-ranked sites. There are probably worse ways to go about it, but in many ways Google has to take sides on ideas or concepts that are still strongly debated. Consensus does not create or prove facts, even if it's a strong signal. There are certainly things that I strongly believe that you do not. Does that make my beliefs (or yours) any less valid…

"And, should Google be liable for those answers that are now coming from its site ..."

This is why Google references the source when it gives you the answer.

Re: Google increasingly is promoting a single answer for many questions

#60

Post by jchw »

untog wrote: post #32
dontnotice wrote: post #9

Halfway down that piece: A study this year by Stone Temple, a prominent analyst of the industry, showed Google’s search engine answered 74.3% of 5,000 questions, and on those answers it had a 97.4% accuracy rate. Both percentages are higher than services from Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. Alternative WSJ: Let's bury that tidbit under the fold while we nitpick and highlight edge cases in a constantly…

That's absolutely the wrong way to go about looking at it. Not all facts are of equal importance. 97 correct facts about, say, gardening, and three incorrect facts about first aid is not a successful system. If Google is presenting the tool as a canonical source of truth, it needs to be right 100% of the time. In fact, being right 97.4% of the time is worse in many ways, as it lulls people into a false sense of secur…

>This feels like an absurd criticism. Couldn't it apply to absolutely every negative thing written about Google, ever? Why should Google be immune from criticism?

I think this is more a direct attack on WSJ's questionable neutrality rather than a strong defense of Google's behavior.

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