No matter their political leanings, most human beings bristle at the mere suggestion that machines might effectively replace them.
On social media over the weekend, viewers of the already repellent Olympic Games channeled their inner Luddite in visceral reactions towards a commercial for Google’s Gemini AI feature — a commercial that one user on the social media platform X described as “soul crushing.”
Indeed, Google’s Olympic advertisement struck at the heart of what it means to be human.
Ironically, the minute-long commercial began in one of the most charming ways imaginable. The voice of a proud father accompanied pictures and videos of a young girl who loves to run.
Moreover, in the innocent way that children do, the young girl idolizes American Olympic hurdler Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.
“She might even be the world’s number one Sydney fan,” the father said of his daughter.
Then, in a preview of its impending dark turn, the commercial showed Gemini AI helping the young girl look up proper running and hurdling techniques.
Of course, that part did not disturb viewers. But what came next most certainly did.
“She wants to show Sydney some love, and I’m pretty good with words, but this has to be just right,” the father said.
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Ensuing sequences showed the father prompting Gemini AI to help his daughter write a fan letter to McLaughlin-Levrone.
Yikes.
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Adverse reactions came swiftly, even from liberal sources broadly associated with an anti-human woke ideology.
For instance, on the social media platform Bluesky, NPR podcast host Linda Holmes panned the Google ad.
“This commercial showing somebody having a child use AI to write a fan letter to her hero SUCKS. Obviously there are special circumstances and people who need help, but as a general “look how cool, she didn’t even have to write anything herself!” story, it SUCKS. Who wants an AI-written fan letter??” Holmes wrote.
This commercial showing somebody having a child use AI to write a fan letter to her hero SUCKS. Obviously there are special circumstances and people who need help, but as a general “look how cool, she didn’t even have to write anything herself!” story, it SUCKS. Who wants an AI-written fan letter??
— Linda Holmes (@lindaholmes.bsky.social) Jul 27, 2024 at 8:48 AM
On X, Professor Shelly Palmer of Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications called it “one of the most disturbing commercials I’ve ever seen.”
In fact, Palmer added that the commercial depicts “exactly what we do not want anyone to do with AI. Ever.”
Have you seen Google’s “Dear Sydney” Olympic ad featuring a father using Gemini AI to help his young daughter write a fan letter to Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone? It is one of the most disturbing commercials I’ve ever seen. To be clear, I love the idea of a young aspiring athlete… pic.twitter.com/FFohdVBbut
— Shelly Palmer (@shellypalmer) July 29, 2024
Meanwhile, freelance writer Kaitlyn Arford described the Google ad as the worst thing about the games thus far.
“I think we can all agree that the big loser of the #Olympics is the Google Gemini AI ad where they think an AI-written letter is better than a sweet note from a young girl to her favorite athlete,” Arford posted.
I think we can all agree that the big loser of the #Olympics is the Google Gemini AI ad where they think an AI-written letter is better than a sweet note from a young girl to her favorite athlete.
— Kaitlyn Arford — Freelance Writer (@kaitarford) July 28, 2024
When ranking the Olympics’ worst moments, Arford might have overlooked the blasphemous opening ceremonies. Otherwise, one cannot argue with her objection.
Another social media user called the ad “one of the worst possible use cases for AI I can imagine.”
“Way to teach your kid they don’t need to have an original thought or a genuine interaction with another human,” the user added.
The Google Gemini letter writing commercial is one of the worst possible use cases for AI I can imagine.
Way to teach your kid they don’t need to have an original thought or a genuine interaction with another human.
— Sidney Pegula (@sidneypegula) July 28, 2024
Finally, another social media user compared the “soul crushing” ad to a recent Apple iPad commercial “where the message was supposed to be a sign of progress but instead kills those special ‘human’ moments together.”
The @Google Gemini commercial where a father prompts Gemini to draft a letter to Olympian Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone for his daughter isn’t as charming as intended IMO.
Instead of some beautiful commercial showing the journey where a father helps his daughter find her voice in… pic.twitter.com/BvRXxlS43y
— Michael R. (@ImpactForward) July 29, 2024
The Apple ad in question showed musical instruments, video games, books and even ancient busts being crushed by a giant press then disappearing amid the splattering of paint. Then, the press lifted to reveal a sleek new iPad.
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The intended message, of course, was that Apple’s product combines all of those other tangible things into one device. Like the Google ad, however, it simply missed the mark.
According to the aptly named business-and-technology news outlet TechCrunch, the Apple ad sparked a similarly adverse reaction. And it did so for the same reason.
“What Apple seems to have forgotten is that it is the things in the real world — the very things Apple destroyed — that give the fake versions of those things value in the first place,” Devin Coldewey wrote for TechCrunch.
Indeed, people seldom take kindly to the idea that real things do not matter.
Nor do they react well to messages that even hint at the obsolescence of any human experience. Let that be a lesson to the technocratic, globalist tyrants at Google and elsewhere.
