Google kills ‘Dear Sydney’ Gemini AI ad after intense backlash

It appears that villainy has been defeated, as Google is pulling its "Dear Sydney" Gemini AI ad from the ongoing 2024 Paris Olympics coverage.

The ad featured a dad talking about his daughter's excitement for track and field star Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. Toward the back half of the commericial, the father uses the Gemini AI assistant to help his daughter write a fan letter to Sydney.

"Quiet simply, the Google Gemini ad enrages because it embraces and celebrates the very worst things about AI-powered tools," Tom's Guide's managing editor for mobile Philip Michaels wrote. "If this is how Google is hoping to sell the capabilities of AI in general and Gemini in particular to a dubious public, it's badly missed the mark."

As reported by The Hollywood Reporter , Google is one of the major sponsors for the Olympics, alongside Samsung who provided custom Z Flip 6 phones to Olympians. Google and Samsung have teamed up to push AI and AI tools hard with the Gemini assistant as one component.

The ad is below for your reference.

A Google spokesperson told THR, "While the ad tested well before airing, given the feedback, we have decided to phase the ad out of our Olympics rotation."

We find ourselves more than a little curious who they tested this advertisement with.

This is just the latest in a series of poorly considered advertisements from major companies who don't seem to understand what people want from their tech.

Apple had to pull the infamous "Crush" ad in May when the internet responded negatively to the iPad commercial, which showed a giant hydraulic press crushing various objects to symbolize creativity. Apple had meant to demonstrate how much it had packed into its new thinner iPad Pro models, but audiences viewed the ad as Big Tech essentially smashing creativity out of existence.

In June, the zombified Toys'R'Us caused controversy with it's OpenAI Sora-created commercial that was supposed to be a nostalgic trip down toy memory lane. Instead, it opened the hedge fund-ruined shell retailer to accusations of using AI in a "horrible way" and exposed the uncanny valley.

More from Tom's Guide

• 3 disturbing things happened this week in AI — and you need to pay attention
• Google Gemini is about to become a lot more powerful — here's why
• I tested Gemini vs ChatGPT vs Claude vs Meta Llama — which AI chatbot wins?