Here’s a Mandela effect event that you probably thought was real: The Department of Government Efficiency, the pseudo-agency run by Elon Musk to cut “fraud, waste, and abuse” from federal operations, didn’t actually exist. At least, that is what Google’s AI Overview response will tell you if you search certain content related to DOGE’s operations.
A Bluesky user who goes by iucounu first pointed out this mistake in Google’s comprehension skills, finding that querying the search engine for information and the number of deaths caused by DOGE’s cutting of essential programs results in a response that claims the agency is “fictional” and from “a political satire or conspiracy theory.” Gizmodo was able to recreate these results:
According to Google, “There is no actual government department named DOGE, and the term is used in critical or satirical contexts to refer to policies or actions taken by the Trump administration.” The results expand on this later, stating, “It is crucial to understand that there is no actual government entity named DOGE, and the discussion around it is part of political discourse or satire, not a factual government action.”
There are certainly outlets and people who have suggested that DOGE is fake, either in that it does nothing to accomplish its stated mission or actually is not a real agency established by the federal government (though it certainly functions as one). But the AI Overview does not cite any source that suggests this.
The closest it gets to a source outright saying DOGE doesn’t exist is a link to the Democrats’ House Committee on the Budget, which has a page titled “The So-Called ‘DOGE,’” but even that offers a pretty clear statement that DOGE is not some mass delusion: “DOGE is an organization in the Executive Office of the President. It is not a cabinet-level agency with Senate-approved leadership and has no statutory authority to alter Congressionally appropriated funds.” The other sources, places like Lawfare and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, don’t even come close to suggesting the agency is a satire.
So what gives? Google didn’t offer any explanation when contacted, though a spokesperson for the company did tell Gizmodo, “This AI Overview is clearly incorrect. It violated our policies around civic information, and we are taking action to address the issue.”
So it looks like DOGE wasn’t all in our collective heads after all. Ain’t that a shame?
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