A few weeks back, Google announced that it was bringing a heavy dose of AI to Google Maps with a new “Ask Maps” features. The idea of asking Google Maps more conversationally about stuff makes sense, at least on paper. You take the supposed power of AI and have it present info from the millions of businesses and reviews it has in the blink of an eye, maybe as a list of places to visit or eat or activities to do.
This week, “Ask Maps” started rolling out heavily and you might even see it upon opening Google Maps right now. You’ll be presented with that screen in the image above, letting you know how to use it. If you skip that screen, a new “Ask Maps” button should constantly show at the top left corner of the main screen for quick access.
When Google announced this feature, they gave examples of pretty specific things to ask, like “Is there a public tennis court with lights on that I can play at tonight?” So this isn’t supposed to be just, “Find me pizza.” Right?
I gave it a shot this morning and the results were not good. This is bad AI at its finest. My first attempt at a prompt went about as poorly as it could.
I asked it to “Find new pizza restaurants with party cut pizza” in my lovely city of Portland, OR. I love this style of pizza, so I certainly know where to go, it’s just that I wanted to see what “Ask Maps” could come up with.
So, the first option it returned is Jerry’s Tavern, a midwest-styled dive bar that is 100% awesome and has quickly become a legendary spot in Portland. Jerry, the owner, gained some fame before opening the bar because he was slinging tavern-style, crispy party cut pizza during the pandemic. When he opened Jerry’s Tavern, everyone hoped he would at some point do the same from the bar. However, he doesn’t sell pizza there and even announced that it just isn’t possible from this location because of the size and other factors. There may be a future Jerry’s Pizza restaurant, but Jerry’s Tavern does not sell pizza and never has. Google’s “Ask Maps” sure thinks it does.
It’s obvious that Gemini found a bunch of old references to Jerry making pizza from years ago and combined that with his tavern to decide that he must be making pizza there. It even got the location wrong, mentioning that the bar is “Housed in a cozy neighborhood bar setting in the Brooklyn area.” Jerry was making pizza during COVID in a bar in that area, but Jerry’s Tavern is in the opposite corner of the city.
Scrolling past that and to the next option, it gave me Prettyboy Pizza, a newish spot in Portland that I absolutely love. They make grandma-style pan pizza that is indeed close-to-party cut in squares/rectangles. Good job, Google.
Unfortunately, the 3rd option it gave, Cicoria, has been closed for almost 2 years at this point. It was great! It also served midwest style tavern pizza that was party cut! But yeah, it’s not open and hasn’t been.
While this is just a single example of Gemini being shitty, it shouldn’t be ignored. Google just rolled this feature out and the first thing I searched for, it got massively wrong. It gave me wrong info and could have sent me to businesses that were closed (for years) or that have never sold pizza.
Imagine being from the midwest, coming to Portland, hearing about all of its great food, and then trying to find this style of pizza with Google’s fancy new “Asks Maps” feature, only to be given exactly what I was given here. Do I trust this on the next vacation I take? Ehhh.
