Google has reportedly restricted AI search results for queries related to former President Donald Trump, specifically regarding mental acuity and conditions like dementia. When users search for phrases like “does Trump show signs of dementia,” a notice appears stating, “An AI Overview is not available for this search.” In AI Mode, users are limited to a list of ten web results rather than a summarized overview typically provided for other searches.
In contrast, similar inquiries about President Joe Biden yield a different outcome. When searching “does Biden show signs of dementia,” users are also met with a lack of an AI Overview, but an AI Mode search provides a summarized response indicating, “It’s not possible to definitively state whether former President Joe Biden has dementia based solely on publicly available information.” Google also offers AI summaries for related queries about Biden and Alzheimer’s disease, asserting that there is “no clinical diagnosis or public proof that former President Joe Biden has Alzheimer’s disease.”
The treatment of these searches appears inconsistent compared to other public figures. For instance, an inquiry about former President Barack Obama returns a clear AI Overview stating that “no public evidence or statements from medical professionals indicate that former President Barack Obama has dementia.”
The discrepancies in how Google presents information regarding Trump and Biden, both of whom are the oldest presidents in U.S. history, may raise questions about the platform’s policies on sensitive topics and the implications of public response. Google, which recently agreed to a settlement regarding controversy over Donald Trump’s YouTube account, has not provided a specific rationale for the absence of AI Overviews for these queries. A spokesperson stated that AI Overviews and AI Mode will not yield responses for every query. An update on September 30th included Google’s response to this issue.
Source: https://www.theverge.com/news/789152/google-ai-searches-blocking-trump-dementia-biden