Dear Sydney: Google lands itself in hot water over AI-driven Olympics ad

Google has drawn heavy criticism after the release of a new Olympics commercial that features its AI programme Gemini, according to media intelligence firm Truescope. 

Truescope noted that the ad has drawn criticism from international media. Significant traction was observed in New York Magazine, Brobible, INC.com, CNN amongst others. 

Titled "Dear Sydney", the ad begins with a father talking about how his daughter has always enjoyed running ever since she was a young child. He goes on to say that he thought she was following in his footsteps as he is a runner as well. 

However, he later finds out that his daughter is actually hoping to follow in the footsteps of American hurdler and Olympian Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. 

"She might even be the world's number one McLaughlin-Levrone fan," the father says in the video. 

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The video then goes into the fact that his daughter is very focused on her technique and refrences Google's Gemini to help teach her how she should be training. 

The father then says that his daughter would like to show McLaughlin-Levrone some love by writing her a letter.

"I'm pretty good with words but this has to be just right," he says, adding:

So, Gemini, help my daughter write a letter telling McLaughlin-Levrone how inspiring she is and be sure to mention that my daughter plans on breaking her world record one day.

Gemini then churns out a draft of a fan letter to the Olympian saying that the girl wants to be just like her. 

Following the outcry, Google turned off the comments on the YouTube video featuring the ad. 

According to Truescope, netizens’ comments mainly centre on the following themes:

1. Loss of authenticity and personal touch
Many believe a child's handwritten letter, with its imperfections, is more meaningful than an AI-generated message. The lack of genuine effort and personal expression is a key concern.

2. Impact on creativity and learning
There are worries that using AI for such tasks may hinder children's creativity and learning. Writing the letter themselves could help develop important skills and ensure genuine expression. The ad has been criticised for promoting laziness and diminishing the value of personal effort.

3. Misuse of AI's potential
Some view the ad as a poor use of AI, suggesting that it should be applied in ways that enhance rather than replace human creativity. There is a belief that the ad missed an opportunity to showcase AI in a more meaningful context, such as facilitating authentic interactions between athletes and fans.

This is not the first time an AI ad has been criticised. Recently, Toys "R" Us found itself in hot water over an ad that featured a young Charles Lazarus, founder of Toys "R" Us and creator of Geoffrey the Giraffe, dreaming of a magical place that will change toy stores forever.

OpenAI's Sora enabled Toys "R" Us Studios and Native Foreign to bring a concept to reality in just a few weeks, condensing hundreds of iterative shots down to a couple dozen. The brand film was almost entirely created with Sora, with some corrective VFX and an original music score composed by Aaron Marsh of famed indie rock band Copeland, Toys "R" Us said at the time. 

Toys "R" Us saw its sentiments plummet from 12.2% positive, 13.5% negative and 74.3% neutral to 3.4% positive, 53.4% negative and 43.2% neutral after it released the ad, according to media intelligence firm CARMA.

According to CARMA, many netizens expressed "disappointment" and "frustration" with the ad, calling it "soulless" and "cynical", according to its world cloud after the incident.

Some commented on the use of an AI-generated child actor, while others noted that the ad did not show any real children playing with toys.

Currently, 50% of consumers are able to spot AI-generated copies. In a study by Bynder, it was revealed that millennials were the most successful at spotting non-human content which comes as no surprise as the demographic is also the most likely to use AI when creating content.

Interestingly, the survey also revealed that 56% of participants said that they preferred the AI version over the human-made work. 52% of consumers cited that they would become less engaged if they suspect a copy is AI-generated.

In contrast, participants aged 16 to 24 were the only age group to find the content created by a human more engaging than the AI-generated version (55%).

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