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Google's Bard ad credited the wrong telescope with the first exoplanet photo
What the AI said
The James Webb Space Telescope took the very first pictures of a planet outside our solar system.
What was actually true
That milestone was claimed by the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in 2004.
Cost or impact
Alphabet lost about $100bn in market value. The BBC said shares fell more than 7%; NPR said 9%. The BBC notes investors were also underwhelmed by Google's AI presentation, so the error was not the only cause.
Who caught it
Astronomers on Twitter, including Chris Harrison (Newcastle University).
Check that would have caught it Our analysis
source citation. A 'first' claim needs a cited source. Nobody checked this one before it went into an ad.
This is our judgment, not something the sources say. How we assign it.
Sources
- bbc.comhttps://www.bbc.com/news/business-64576225
- npr.orghttps://www.npr.org/2023/02/09/1155650909/google-chatbot--error-bard-shares
Links last checked Oct 24, 2026. If something here is wrong, send a correction.