Google restricts AI responses linking Trump to dementia, says report

Google is reportedly withholding AI-generated answers to searches suggesting US President Donald Trump may show signs of dementia.

According to a US media report, when users search “does Trump show signs of dementia,” Google’s AI Overview displays the message: “An AI Overview is not available for this search.”

In AI Mode, instead of generating a summary, the system only shows a list of web links.

The queries connecting Trump to dementia or Alzheimer’s consistently fail to produce AI summaries. However, the system handles similar searches about other presidents differently. For example, a search about Joe Biden and dementia provides no AI Overview at all, but AI Mode offers a response: “It’s not possible to definitively state whether former President Joe Biden has dementia based solely on publicly available information.”

For Biden and Alzheimer’s-related queries, Google did display an AI Overview. The response said: “No clinical diagnosis or public proof that former President Joe Biden has Alzheimer’s disease.”

When the same searches are tried with other leaders, the AI offers clear summaries. A query about Barack Obama, for instance, generates the response: “No public evidence or statements from medical professionals indicate that former President Barack Obama has dementia.” In AI Mode, it also provides a summarised answer.

The findings come amid ongoing public debate over the cognitive abilities of both Trump and Biden, who are the oldest presidents in US history.