In the summer of 2025, it was discovered that Google was using AI in our beloved Discover feed. Used by tech giants AI provides a short blurb/summary of the article Issues appear in the Discover feed, allowing users to easily see what the article is about.
This is cool and somewhat useful, as long as the AI handles it correctly.
Fast forward to December 2025, Google started testing AI-generated story title It appeared on Discover. Things went downhill from there.
At the time, the headlines Discover was producing were far from the truth. In other words, it did not accurately portray the content of the article. Conversely, users and publications have discovered that AI-generated headlines are actually misleading and factually incorrect.
The 9to5Google article was actually titled “.Don’t buy the Qi2 25W wireless charger expecting faster speeds. Buy a “slower” charger instead.“” has been retitled “”Qi2 slows down older Pixels. ”
Similarly, Ars Technica’s “Valve’s Steam Machine looks like a console, but don’t expect a console-like price“” has been changed to “”Steam Machine price revealed. ”
At the time, we believed this inaccuracy was due to the feature being unstable and in early testing stages. In a statement to The Verge at the time, Google confirmed the experiment and said it was “testing a new design that repositions existing headings to help you understand the details of a topic before exploring links from across the web.”
Now, Google has stopped calling Discover an “experiment” for human-written headlines. Instead, they started calling it a “feature,” as highlighted in a statement from Google spokesperson Jennifer Kutz. The Verge.
Last year, we introduced new features in Discover to help people explore topics covered by multiple creators and websites. This feature includes helpful AI-powered summaries of topics, featured images, and links to related articles. Summary headings reflect information from various sites and are not rewritten from individual article headings. This feature has been great for user satisfaction, and we continue to experiment with the UI to help users click through and explore content on the web.
Google said it is not looking into changing the title individually. We focus on topics that are trending and covered by multiple sources. When that happens, the AI collects information from all sources and attempts to compile a collective story into one heading. The tech giant says this is in pursuit of user satisfaction.
Highlight your work with featured images and links to their stories from top publications like The Verge. Evidence that article headlines have been replaced by AI is to look at the source of the Discover card. Usually one publication is highlighted in the top left. When Google Discover parses multiple sources to form a headline, the Discover card highlights the primary source and displays tags with plus numbers highlighting additional mediums from which the AI gathered information, as seen in the screenshot below.
Additionally, Discover articles that are trending topics and whose headlines have been replaced by AI will not have the word “Follow” in the top right corner.
While AI-generated headlines won’t appear on every article in Discover, Google’s indication that this change is a feature rather than an experiment suggests a lot, and unless Google tunes its AI to accurately change article titles (which it shouldn’t do in the first place, sadly), Discover may continue to spread misinformation.