Google search engine sometimes shows unusual results while searching for something. The algorithm works in a specific way to provide the user with the desired answer. However, that answer may not be what one is looking for. One year ago, a meme posted on Reddit showed Google’s search engine returning some answers to the query of “p girl names”. Recently, this meme was shared on Twitter too. The result was funny for many as it included the name of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) among the other (normal) girls’ names. As the name suggests, it’s the national flag carrier of the South Asian country.
Pakistan International Airlines Stands Out from the Rest
The picture received many comments focused on this 1 name that stood out from the other options. Redditors jokingly said that they would like to name their kids Pakistan International Airlines. The joke was targeted at Google’s AI, which sometimes makes a mistake in providing relevant results. Many often troll the tech giant over the weird results they get from routine searches related to web, maps, or translation. Nonetheless, it was fun for many before Google fixed the glitch. But the social media users couldn’t let it go and made it a viral meme, which people still shared on various platforms. Since the era is super-fast in terms of technology, nothing can stay hidden or go away permanently.
Why Does Google Search Engine Return Wierd Answers?
There is no definite answer as to why Google’s AI considered Pakistan International Airlines as a cool girl’s name. The search engine tries to understand the user’s intent and decide which pages are most relevant to the query. Google bots regularly crawl and index all the websites on the internet to analyze their content. It allows the search engine to identify “keywords”, and if those words or phrases appear in any of the web pages, Google considers them relevant to the user.
The fact that the abbreviation of Pakistan’s airlines is PIA could have been the reason for Google’s AI to consider it in the wrong category. Pronouncing PIA as a single word can sound like Pia or Piya, which are both girl names. It has both Latin and Indian origins with the same meaning, i.e. Beloved, Pious.
More Examples of Google Being Funny
Social media users are often seen sharing pictures of Google searches that return hilarious answers. For example, if one searches for “Why are the” in the search bar, one of the drop-down suggestions will say “Kardashians famous”. Netizens have used it many times as a meme to troll the family for its controversial fame.
On the other hand, Google translate is also a very fun tool to use for the youth. Someone shared a picture of a translation of Urdu romantic poetry about romance. However, Google thought it was talking about something else.
Such issues show that Artificial Intelligence is still not developed enough to think like human beings. The human brain has the advantage of thinking based on its knowledge, experience, memory, and ability to recognize and form new information on the go. Whereas an AI only thinks depending on the data fed to it. Recently, Meta’s AI was going viral on social media for making damning revelations about Mark Zuckerberg by scanning the web for available data about him. As the data was not good at all due to controversies, the AI was also not very fond of its boss.
