'Was 1995 30 years ago?' Google's AI overviews is having issues with a simple question
In the year 2025, it seems we're hearing frequent warnings about impending doom via artificial intelligence. And that's not without some merit: Heck, AI is causing job loss and filling our social feeds with fairly convincing slop.
But sometimes, the world sends a reminder that our AI tools are a far cry from Schwarzeneggerian domination. For instance, Google's much-maligned AI Overviews is, at times, struggling to decipher if 1995 was, in fact, 30 years ago. For the mathematically challenged, yes it was, because, well, 2025 minus 1995 equals 30. But don't go telling that to Google.
People online noticed Google's AI Overviews seemed to have trouble with this particular query. It became almost a trend of sorts to ask, "Was 1995 30 years ago?" Lots of people posted screenshots appearing to show Google answering with incorrect answers — typically speaking, AI Overviews decided 1995 was 29 years ago, for some reason.
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We tested the query at Mashable, and did — at least sometimes — replicate the results of these screenshots and get an incorrect answer from Google's AI Overviews
Here is a screenshot from a Mashable editor.
When I tried to recreate the results, Google, at first, correctly answered the question. But later, it answered both incorrectly and correctly. The AI Overview spat out a garbled response that said 1995 was both 29 years ago and 30 years ago. Mashable has reached out to Google for comment and will update as necessary.
We've covered Google's often confidently wrong AI Overviews at Mashable. There was that trend where it would invent meaning for any made-up idiom. Or when it struggled to get the year right. Or the time it got the NFL rules wrong during a high-profile game, causing a lot of confusion.
Despite these repeated issues and mistakes, Google continues to feed users more AI Overviews. Remember to double-check your sources...or maybe just break out your calculator.
Topics Artificial Intelligence Google
Tim Marcin is an Associate Editor on the culture team at Mashable, where he mostly digs into the weird parts of the internet. You'll also see some coverage of memes, tech, sports, trends, and the occasional hot take. You can find him on Bluesky (sometimes), Instagram (infrequently), or eating Buffalo wings (as often as possible).
