Google benches tone-deaf ‘Dear Sydney’ AI spot from Olympics ad roster
Every time you use AI to write a letter, an English teacher loses their wings.
JoriPress
- Google received immediate backlash over an ad showing a father girl using Gemini AI to write his daughter’s favorite athlete a fan letter.
- The ad has since been pulled from Olympics rotation, but it remains up on Google’s YouTube account.
Tech companies are used to pushing boundaries, with everybody looking to become the next disruptor. But especially when it comes to their advertising, sometimes they push past the boundaries of good taste into some seriously cringe-worthy territory. We’ve seen situations like that play out time and time again over the years, and in some of those cases the response is so overwhelmingly negative that the company involved sees no better alternative than just taking their ad down. Now Google is the latest advertiser to find itself in the hot seat, all in response to an AI-focused spot it’s been running for the Olympics.
The video in question depicts a father whose daughter shows an interest in athletics and emerges as a fan of track-and-field Olympian Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. The “Dear Sydney” ad continues as the father wants to help his daughter craft the best possible fan letter to McLaughlin. So, what’s next? A trip to the library? An after-school creative writing program? Nope: Gemini AI can just write it for you.
