Google Restricts AI Queries Linking Trump With Dementia: Report

Google has withheld AI-generated answers for searches questioning whether US President Donald Trump shows signs of dementia, while continuing to provide similar responses about other presidents, according to a report in The Verge.

The report claims that on searching for “does Trump show signs of dementia”, AI Overviews says “An AI Overview is not available for this search”.

Further, on visiting AI Mode, users only get a list of web links instead of a summary of information.

Searches linking Trump to conditions such as dementia or Alzheimer’s are treated similarly, producing no AI Overview and merely presenting a collection of links in AI Mode. 

As per The Verge, Google treats the queries differently depending on who is mentioned. Typing in a question about Biden and dementia doesn’t generate an AI Overview whatsoever.

The report though says that opting for AI Mode does provide a summarised response. The report quotes the following response from AI Mode, “It’s not possible to definitively state whether former President Joe Biden has dementia based solely on publicly available information.”

Google also showed an AI Overview for a query asking, “does Biden show signs of Alzheimer’s”. The answer said, “no clinical diagnosis or public proof that former President Joe Biden has Alzheimer’s disease.”

When the same thing is tried with names of other figures or past presidents, the outcome is not the same. For example, entering Barack Obama’s name brings up an AI-generated summary which says, “No public evidence or statements from medical professionals indicate that former President Barack Obama has dementia.”

Moreover, on searching “does Obama show signs of dementia” in AI Mode, the system did provide a summarised answer.

There’s been considerable discussion in the media about the cognitive abilities of Trump and Biden, who hold the record as the oldest US presidents.