Google is facing backlash on X after a viral post for its NotebookLM appeared to use a food blogger’s work without credit.

Recently, Google launched Nano Banana Pro, its most powerful image model to date.

The model is likely trained on millions of websites and videos, which explains why it’s one of the best tools for generating realistic images.

It’s also very capable at creating infographics, and Google has been promoting that feature on X (formerly Twitter), especially for recipe-related posts.

In one such promotion, Google’s NotebookLM account shared an “infographic recipe card” for Classic Buttery Herb Stuffing, presented as a cozy “family recipe” you could generate with AI

After the post went live, X user Nate Hake compared the card to a stuffing recipe from the blog HowSweetEats and found that it was strikingly identical.

As the screenshot shows, the ingredients list and structure closely matched the original post.

Hake argued that the AI didn’t “think” but likely scraped the recipe word-for-word, ran it through Google’s model, and turned it into a cutesy card.

“Google has crossed the rubicon into publishing AI summaries that do not even link to the source websites at all. And they are doing this in clear violation of these websites’ posted terms of use,” Hake, who tracks AI slop, told BleepingComputer.

“This incident shows how Google is trying to leverage its Search monopoly into a monopoly on answers themselves. Whereas Google used to send clicks to websites who put in the hard work of creating content, with AI it increasingly is just scraping content, republishing that content in AI summary form, and sending fewer and fewer clicks to the original creators,” Nate Hake explained.

After getting called out on X, Google has now quietly deleted the NotebookLM post.

However, the company is not alone in facing criticism for its AI promotions, as Microsoft recently pulled an X post as well after a Copilot feature failed to work in the ad itself.

Google is planning to monetize AI-generated answers on search

If you thought Google was building these tools to fuel AI slop and not its ad revenue, then you are in for a shock.

Google has already started testing ads in AI mode within the answers. These ads appear along with the citations, and you might not even realise if they’re organic links or ads.

In a statement to BleepingComputer, Google later confirmed it was testing ads in AI mode as part of an experiment that has been going on for months.

However, Google is not the only company preparing ads in AI answers.

OpenAI, which currently dominates the AI market among consumers, is also experimenting with ads in ChatGPT.

Ads within ChatGPT could be highly customised, and influence buying behaviour significantly compared to Google ads.