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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Technology
Alex Hern UK technology editor

‘Data void’: Google to stop giving answers to silly questions

Google logo and balloons
‘We’ve trained our systems to get better at detecting these sorts of false premises,’ Google’s head of search said in a blogpost. Photograph: Charles Platiau/Reuters

Google will stop giving snappy answers to stupid questions, the company has announced, as it seeks to improve its search engine’s “featured snippets” service.

That means users should see fewer answers to questions such as “When did Snoopy assassinate Abraham Lincoln?”, to which the service would once merrily respond with “1865” – the right date, but very much the wrong assassin.

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