Google AI embarrasses itself when asked to perform the one simple task computers have always been good at

Thanks to the breathtaking power of artificial intelligence, we may now use natural language to beg the computer to perform a function that once came as naturally to its binary brain as breathing does to ours. Google—a company worth 3.5 trillion dollars, uncontested owner of both the almighty internet search algorithm and the web browser, has overengineered its latest Discover feed AI curation tool to such an extent that it cannot simply block a website from appearing as a source.

Google’s ‘Tailor your feed’ feature, introduced a few months ago, adds a familiar chat prompt that encourages you to type something like “Keep me updated on what’s happening in college basketball” to curate what shows up in your Discover feed. Discover, if you’re not familiar, is what Google calls the list of recommended stories that shows up when you open a new tab in Chrome, and is also built into the Google app and Android.