Google AI Giving Wrong Information On US EV Tax Credit
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If you’ve used AI from Google, ChatGPT, or elsewhere to try to get answers to a variety of queries, you’ve probably noticed some odd and incorrect information some of the time. Part of the problem with this, to me, is that the answers are provided in an authoritative way that implies 100% accuracy and infallibility. People think, “Okay, I got the answer,” and move on. But there are a lot of mistakes in the AI answers.
I just found out about one that could cost car shoppers a big chunk of cash, and a bad surprise at tax time. Apparently, Google AI is telling people that they can still get a $7,500 tax credit for buying an electric car. Of course, you cannot. But how many people who don’t follow cleantech websites know that?
Andy Kalmowitz at Jalopnik searched 20 electric cars to see if they were eligible for the EV tax credit, or to see if Google knew whether they were or not. He found that Google AI got it wrong on 19 of them, thinking that they did qualify.
“Buying a new car is already a daunting and confusing process, and it’s only being made harder by misleading and — in some cases — blatantly incorrect information being posted online by artificial intelligence for the world to see, which is what we have here today. President Donald Trump famously killed the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit back at the end of September, but apparently nobody told Google’s AI Overview response system,” Andy wrote a week before Christmas.
“Somehow, this bot can correctly identify the criteria a car and the buyer must check off in order to qualify for the tax credit. It knows the car has to be assembled in the U.S. It knows the MSRP of a car has to be under $80,000, and it knows the income level the buyer or lessee needs to be under in order to take advantage of the incentive. However, it seems pretty much unaware of the fact that the credit has now been dead and gone for well over a month, and this is super concerning for the general public.”
Google AI did answer correctly when it came to the Jeep Wagoneer S. It’s not clear why or how.
I did a quick check myself to confirm Google AI is as dumb as Andy says it is. I just searched whether the Hyundai IONIQ 5 qualified for the EV tax credit. Google told me it does. Not only that — it’s “back on the list!”
Andy also pointed out that Jalopnik previously debunked Google AI spreading the myth that early Ford Model Ts had bug infestations from Ford using Spanish moss (a common sight down here in Florida).
Andy’s takeaway is a good one we should all keep in mind: “Of course, folks like you and me — people who know far too much about cars — know to look past this sort of AI junk, but most people aren’t like us. Unfortunately, they’ll take Google’s word for it, and by the time they get to the dealership and sign the paperwork, it might just be too late. It’s emblematic of a much larger problem, not just in the automotive industry, but in the world as a whole. The entire internet has been ensloppened by AI garbage, and there isn’t much we can do to stop it other than spreading the good word that it is terrible.” Indeed. Good advice.
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