Infuriating Google commercial imagines the founding fathers embracing AI
Infuriating Google commercial imagines the founding fathers embracing AI
is the Verge’s weekend editor. He’s covered the tech industry for over 18 years and knows a thing or two about synths.
“Group project, but make it 1776.” That’s how a new commercial for Google Workspace opens. And things only get cringier from there. The clip imagines what it would be like if the founding fathers turned to Google’s collaboration tools and Gemini to help them draft the Declaration of Independence.
Ben Franklin texts Thomas Jefferson to check on the status of a draft, who takes a photo and uses AI to transcribe it into a Google Doc. Franklin and Adams hop in to make edits in suggestion mode, Gemini finds them a meeting time, takes notes during a Google Meet call, and then Nano Banana whips up a seal for the United States featuring a turkey (probably the more honest choice, instead of an eagle).
The last thing before the fireworks go off, the founding fathers ask Gemini for its advice on whether to give King George III edit access to the Declaration of Independence. Which should make Americans of all political stripes want to throw their phones out a window. (I wonder what Gemini’s reaction would have been if the founding fathers had asked about women’s voting rights, slavery, or Manifest Destiny?)
The whole thing is ill-advised, corny, and just plain dumb. As CUNY history professor Angus Johnston said on Bluesky, “Even in a corny fantasy joke, it’s impossible to make the case that AI is a useful tool for political organizing, writing, or human collaboration.”
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