Google is experimentally replacing news headlines with AI clickbait nonsense | The VergeSkip to main contentThe homepageThe VergeThe Verge logo.The VergeThe Verge logo.TechReviewsScienceEntertainmentAIHamburger Navigation ButtonThe homepageThe VergeThe Verge logo.Hamburger Navigation ButtonNavigation DrawerThe VergeThe Verge logo.Login / Sign UpcloseCloseSearchTechExpandAmazonAppleFacebookGoogleMicrosoftSamsungBusinessCreatorsMobilePolicySecurityTransportationReviewsExpandLaptopsPhonesHeadphonesTabletsSmart HomeSmartwatchesSpeakersDronesScienceExpandSpaceEnergyEnvironmentHealthEntertainmentExpandGamesTV ShowsMoviesAudioAIVerge ShoppingExpandBuying GuidesDealsGift GuidesSee All ShoppingCarsExpandElectric CarsAutonomous CarsRide-sharingScootersOther TransportationFeaturesVideosExpandYouTubeTikTokInstagramPodcastsExpandDecoderThe VergecastVersion HistoryNewslettersExpandThe Verge DailyInstallerVerge DealsNotepadOptimizerRegulatorThe StepbackArchivesStoreSubscribeFacebookThreadsInstagramYoutubeRSSThe VergeThe Verge logo.Google is experimentally replacing news headlines with AI clickbait nonsenseComments DrawerCommentsLoading commentsGetting the conversation ready...AICloseAIPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All AIReportCloseReportPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All ReportTechCloseTechPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All TechGoogle is experimentally replacing news headlines with AI clickbait nonsenseGoogle tells us it’s a ‘small UI experiment for a subset of Discover users.’Google tells us it’s a ‘small UI experiment for a subset of Discover users.’by Sean HollisterCloseSean HollisterSenior EditorPosts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All by Sean HollisterDec 2, 2025, 10:14 PM UTCLinkShare“BG3 players exploit children,” reads a Google AI-generated headline. Image: GoogleSean HollisterCloseSean HollisterPosts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All by Sean Hollister is a senior editor and founding member of The Verge who covers gadgets, games, and toys. He spent 15 years editing the likes of CNET, Gizmodo, and Engadget.Did you know that BG3 players exploit children? Are you aware that Qi2 slows older Pixels? If we wrote those misleading headlines, readers would rip us a new one — but Google is experimentally beginning to replace the original headlines on stories it serves with AI nonsense like that.Come on.I read a lot of my bedtime news via Google Discover, aka “swipe right on your Samsung Galaxy or Google Pixel homescreen until you see a news feed appear,” and that’s where these new AI headlines are beginning to show up.They’re not all bad. For example, “Origami model wins prize” and “Hyundai, Kia gain share” seem fine, even if not remotely as interesting as the original headlines. (“Hyundai and Kia are lapping the competition as US market share reaches a new record” and “14-year-old wins prize for origami that can hold 10,000 times its own weight” sound like they’re actually worth a click!)But in the seeming attempt to boil down every story to four words or less, Google’s new headline experiment is attaching plenty of misleading and inane headlines to journalists’ work, and with little disclosure that Google’s AI is rewriting them.The very first one I saw was “Steam Machine price revealed,” which it most certainly was not! Valve won’t reveal that till next year. Ars Technica’s original headline was the far more reasonable “Valve’s Steam Machine looks like a console, but don’t expect it to be priced like one.”“Microsoft developers using AI”? No shit, Sherlock. (That one was tacked on my colleague Tom Warren’s story about “How Microsoft’s developers are using AI” — Google removed the two words that make a silly headline into a real one!)Reached for comment, my colleague Tom Warren said: “lol wtf Google.”I also saw Google try to claim that “AMD GPU tops Nvidia,” as if AMD had announced a new groundbreaking graphics card, when the actual Wccftech story is about how a single German retailer managed to sell more AMD units than Nvidia units within a single week’s span. Wccftech’s headline was relatively responsible, but Google turned it into clickbait.Then there are the headlines that simply don’t make sense out of context, something real human editors avoid like plague. What does “Schedule 1 farming backup” mean? How about “AI tag debate heats”?The original PC Gamer and PCGamesN headlines for those stories are more interesting and intelligible.Make no mistake, the problem isn’t just that these AI headlines are bad. It’s that Google is taking away our agency to market our own work, like if we’d written a book and the bookstore decided to replace its cover.We try hard to craft headlines that invite readers in, ones that responsibly encapsulate the news, ones that help you understand why a story matters right away and get you excited when it’s justified. (Does my headline for this story seem the right amount of excited?) And yet Google seems to think it can just replace these headlines, in a way that might confuse our readers and think we’re the ones generating clickbait, since our publications’ names appear right next to them.Google does disclose that something about these news items is “Generated with AI, which can make mistakes,” but not what, and readers only see that message if they tap the “See more” button:What Google shows me when I tap “see more.”It’s too easy for readers to think we intentionally send our stories to Google Discover with these headlines.The good news is, this is a Google experiment. If there’s enough backlash, the company probably won’t proceed. “These screenshots show a small UI experiment for a subset of Discover users,” Google spokesperson Mallory Deleon tells The Verge. “We are testing a new design that changes the placement of existing headlines to make topic details easier to digest before they explore links from across the web.”But the overall trend at Google has been to prioritize its own products at the expense of sending clicks to news websites. While the company swears it isn’t destroying the web with AI search, you’d be hard-pressed to find a news outlet that agrees, and even Google has admitted in court that “the open web is already in rapid decline.”It’s the reason The Verge now has a subscription: We can’t survive Google Zero without your help.Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Sean HollisterCloseSean HollisterSenior EditorPosts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All by Sean HollisterAICloseAIPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All AIGoogleCloseGooglePosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All GoogleReportCloseReportPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All ReportTechCloseTechPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All TechMost PopularMost PopularOpenAI declares ‘code red’ as Google catches up in AI raceNetflix kills casting from phonesSamsung’s Z TriFold is official and it looks like a tablet with a phone attachedMKBHD is taking down his wallpaper appSteam Machine today, Steam Phones tomorrowThe Verge DailyA free daily digest of the news that matters most.Email (required)Sign UpBy submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice. 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Google is currently experimenting with replacing news headlines on its Discover feed with AI-generated clickbait, a move that has drawn criticism from journalists and raises concerns about the integrity of information dissemination. The experiment, detailed by Sean Hollister of The Verge, centers around Google’s Discover platform, a personalized news feed accessible on devices like Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel phones. Google has framed this as a “small UI experiment for a subset of Discover users,” designed to “make topic details easier to digest before they explore links from across the web.” However, the results have been largely negative, with Hollister and others highlighting the tendency of the AI to produce misleading, nonsensical, and often deliberately provocative headlines, effectively mimicking the tactics of clickbait without the responsible messaging.

The core of the problem lies in the AI’s apparent lack of understanding regarding journalistic context and purpose. Hollister’s examples—headlines such as “BG3 players exploit children,” “Microsoft developers using AI?” and “AMD GPU tops Nvidia”—demonstrate how the AI can misinterpret stories, extracting single phrases and constructing headlines that bear little relation to the original content. This isn’t simply a matter of differing opinions as the AI takes claims and twists them into meaningless snippets. One example cited, regarding a German retailer selling more AMD units than Nvidia, highlights a clear distortion of factual information. The AI produced the headline “AMD GPU tops Nvidia” which is a complete misrepresentation of the story. These are the issues reported by journalists, raising questions about whether the system learns to mimic styles and not to understand the content.

Google acknowledges the issues, stating that the AI, which generates “mistakes,” is part of a limited experiment. While the company insists the intention is to simplify information for users, the outcome is detrimental to the credibility of news sources. The experiment relies on the AI’s ability to rewrite headlines with minimal oversight. The AI’s outputs frequently lack context and critical engagement, and this could potentially mislead users. The system doesn't appear to understand the nuances of journalistic integrity, leading to a significant risk of undermining the trustworthiness of news content.

Furthermore, the experiment raises broader concerns about Google’s approach to information curation and its influence on the open web. As Sean Hollister points out, Google already faces criticism for its role in the decline of the open web through its algorithms and search results. The introduction of AI-generated headlines adds another layer to this issue, potentially exacerbating the problem by prioritizing engagement metrics over journalistic standards.

The system labels the generated headlines as generated with AI, but the "See More" button provides minimal information about how the system functions, and fails to communicate the fact that the AI is unreliable. The company has stated that the goal is to enhance user experience, but this comes at the expense of journalistic integrity, and the potential to misinform readers. The experiment is currently limited to a “subset of Discover users,” but it raises fundamental questions about Google’s role as a gatekeeper of information and the consequences of relying on AI for news consumption. The company’s statement that “the open web is already in rapid decline” further underlines the seriousness of this potential development.