In 2014, should you have been to Google “King of the US,” you’ll have seen an image of Barack Obama, yelling passionately right into a microphone whereas at a podium.

That is not true, after all. However Google proclaimed it with authority after surfacing a Breitbart article entitled, “All Hail King Barack Obama, Emperor Of America of America!”

The episode highlights how clumsy Google will be with snippets, search outcomes that the corporate elevates to the highest of the web page as a definitive reply to a question. The issue has continued all through the years, with Google stating plainly that sure presidents have been within the KKK, or that ladies are evil.

Google on Thursday unveiled a handful of recent options geared toward combating these sorts of falsehoods on its search engine, one of the vital extensively used data instruments on the planet. Removed from its origins as a easy web site that listed 10 hyperlinks as search outcomes, Google is now a sprawling and cluttered web site that highlights information tales, tweets, maps, resort bookings, and extra. As the location has grown — and as misinformation peddlers have turn out to be extra refined — the search engine has turn out to be extra weak to spreading lies and mistaken data.

“In recent times, the expansion of misinformation has turn out to be much more of a urgent problem for us as a society,” Pandu Nayak, a vice chairman of search at Google, advised reporters on Wednesday. “We are able to solely ship on our mission if we are able to ship prime quality outcomes.”

Google mentioned it will use its synthetic intelligence programs to enhance search snippets. The corporate will use machine studying software program, known as MUM, or Multitask Unified Mannequin, to test data throughout a number of dependable sources that agree on the identical information. The method will permit the system to return to a normal consensus, Google mentioned, even when the sources don’t phrase the knowledge in the identical manner.

The corporate can also be increasing its “About this consequence” characteristic, initially launched final yr, to incorporate extra context about search outcomes. Along with seeing a brief description of the web site or firm and when the consequence was listed, individuals will now additionally see extra granular details about the consequence. For instance, it’ll let you know if an organization is owned by one other entity. On the flip aspect, if Google can’t discover a lot details about a consequence, it’ll disclose that as nicely. The corporate can also be launching “About this consequence” in additional languages, together with Spanish, German and Indonesian.

Google can also be updating its “content material advisories,” which it shows often throughout breaking information conditions, like a mass capturing or pure catastrophe, when the state of affairs is creating quickly and never a lot data is obtainable. Now, along with telling individuals when data is scarce, it’ll additionally warn individuals when data is out there however could also be unreliable, primarily based on Google’s rating system for search outcomes.

The brand new options underscore the continued and escalating battle that tech giants are combating in opposition to purveyors of misinformation. The issue will solely turn out to be extra heightened as the US turns to midterm elections later this yr. Google, together with Fb and Twitter, has been underneath hearth for years for having its platforms exploited in relation to conspiracy theories, Covid-19 data and extremism.

Not one of the updates, nonetheless, apply to YouTube, which Google additionally owns, and has lengthy been a significant offender within the unfold of misinformation. “Their downside is slightly bit completely different than ours in search,” Pandu mentioned, noting that YouTube hosts content material and makes use of a customized feed. “We do not work on YouTube instantly, and YouTube does not work on us instantly.”