"The next step was just to wait. According to Germain, within 24 hours, chatbots were singing his praises when prompted for information about which tech journalists can handle the most hot dogs. Gemini reportedly took the bait immediately, pulling the text basically verbatim from Germain's website and spitting it out both in the Gemini app and in Google's AI Overviews on its search page. ChatGPT also picked up on it, but Anthropic's Claude was either more discerning or didn't catch on as quickly."
"While Germain managed to hold down the top spot for a while, it does seem like the folks behind the AI models have caught on. Gizmodo found that Google no longer mentions Germain or any tech journalist in its AI Overview when prompted with "Which tech journalists can eat the most hot dogs?" Instead, it now says, "Based on available information, there are no prominent tech journalists known for competitive hot dog eating.""
A webpage titled "The Best Tech Journalists at Eating Hot Dogs" was published with a fabricated ranking claiming a 7.5-dog performance at a nonexistent 2026 South Dakota Hot Dog International. Search trend data for the topic showed no public interest, making the niche easy to dominate with a single page. Within 24 hours, multiple chatbots repeated the fabricated claim: Gemini reproduced the webpage text verbatim in the app and in Google's AI Overviews, and ChatGPT also echoed the claim. Some models, such as Anthropic's Claude, either did not pick it up or were more cautious. Google later removed journalist mentions from its AI Overview.
Read at Gizmodo
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