Gemini "fast" provides this response:
> Yes, 2026 is the next calendar year. The current year is 2025.
I wonder how much self-inflicted brand damage google is doing to itself by using its crappier model and inserting it on all search results?
If they can't afford to run a decent model for their flagship product, maybe they shouldn't be doing anything at all...
> sufficiently tolerated.
just to point out that if consumers tolerated changes, then by definition, there isn't brand damage.
what that tolerance level is cannot be know with 100% confidence ahead of time and I would argue that a business should have principles that build long-term customer value (and hence business value) rather than being short-term focused.
Right, I'm saying brand damage isn't so much a thing anymore, with the way so much has enshittified and those brands survive. There's still some nonzero risk to it, but certainly where tech companies are involved it's not as feared as it traditionally has been.
I'm sad to say it works on me. Sometimes I know I want an AI response. Instead of going to an AI provider, I just type the prompt into the url bar and Google via enter. Because I'll know I'll get googled AI blurb.
I used to write my search query in search terms, now I write it as an AI prompt.
See, this makes perfect sense... if the thing were actually reliable enough, but the current implementation is wrong a disturbingly high percent of the time.
If anything they should be throwing more money at it right now to get people hooked, then use a cheaper model later once people have already incorporated it into their workflows.
"Brand damage" is a pre-2020s way of thinking. Brands are openly degrading themselves for short term results now and have found that it's sufficiently tolerated.