Yes, they are at best misleading and often just present dangerously incomplete or misdirecting information. The more you know about a topic the more appalling the summary.
I check variations of this search every month and it still fails at a reasonably high rate
https://imgur.com/a/tKSQuA3
Ah I see now. Maybe my brain translated the question implicitly to "Are mums poisonous to cats?". I'm tempted to say it's a minor quibble, but on the other hand, there are probably a good deal of people who may stop reading after "Yes"
That's interesting. "mums good for cats" and a "mums bad for cats" gives the expected response, it's just "okay" being parsed funny. I've reported it to someone at Google so it'll get fixed... eventually.
I find them irritating because they will link a source entirely unrelated to (or worse, directly contradicting) the fact they are claiming. The Google AI summaries might be the most blatantly hallucinating model widely deployed right now.
I’ve had them abruptly try to turn mathematical theorems into cooking recipes before cutting off mid-sentence in a panic.
YMMV, but nearly every one I read has a glaringly incorrect comment. I frequently research off-trail mountaineering routes and the incorrect bullshit it confidently spouts at the top of a list of results (results which very much counter the AI overview) is liable to end up getting someone hurt, lost, or worse.
I also see this failure mode where it inverts the question and answer the affirmative to the inverted question (therefore the opposite of correct answer).
If you read too quickly or are on a mobile device, the clarifying information may be below the line break.