21 January 2026

Googlediving

"Googlediving"? I was introduced to this term by a prisoner who sometimes visits this wholesome, everyday blog. He goes by the name of "Marcellous" and is currently serving a fifteen year sentence for reasons I am not allowed to disclose. He has also requested that I should not state the name or location of the high security prison facility in which he is currently incarcerated. His internet use is frequently constrained by prison staff and of course his real name is not "Marcellous". It's Knuckles O'Haggerty.

Anyway, all of that is by the by. I just wanted to pick up on the term "googlediving". I think it is a useful term and one that everyone who has ever been on the internet can relate to. "Googlediving" has become a feature of everyday life in the western world.

Have you noticed how in the past couple of years, many of one's questions to Google are answered very quickly in the form of an "A.I.  Overview" that presumably makes swift sense of the lead answers that are floating around in the ether? It's quite remarkable really. As months pass by this "A.I. Overview" facility is becoming increasingly astute, more accurate and more fluent. And yet it has just drifted into our online lives without much trumpeting at all.

As a kind of experiment, I put two questions into Google. The first one concerns a blog that I visit nearly every morning. I know the real life name of this particular blogger but most of us know him as Cro Magnon. I had never paused to ask why he chose that pseudonym and why indeed he came up with the blog title, "Magnon's Meanderings" so I asked this and received the following response in approximately two seconds:-

This is the aforementioned America photojournalist - Paul Chesley:-
But I cannot see any link between this guy and Cro Magnon's blog. Perhaps I am missing something and confusingly there's also reference to "Lady Magnon" and a dog called Bok. Perhaps Cro Magnon himself may be able to illuminate.

Next, with curiosity, I asked this question:-
I like the idea of this blog being "notable" and also "eclectic" but I must say that I was a little surprised that after just two seconds, Google's AI Overview  was able to reveal so much knowledge about this little outpost of the internet. It's not especially gratifying - just interesting to see how deep the facility is able to go.  

I am not sure I want to visit "Rimping Supermarket" as "rimping" sounds like a rather rude activity that I  have no wish to explore. I am fine without "rimping" thank you very much! Happy to stick with "googlediving" instead.

27 comments:

  1. I try to avoid any kind of deep diving in AI!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think there's mischief behind this response.

      Delete
  2. The great thing about blogging is being friends with people I'll never meet.
    It means a lot in prison. I worked for a man called Thaddeus Haggerty,
    a scrap dealer in Limerick and so Haggerty I became. Tax evasion, art theft,
    nine charges of bigamy, setting up false businesses, shipment of received
    goods across the English Channel, EC butter scams, a very big VAT dodge - -
    I've spent more time Inside than Outside. But I never harmed a soul.
    When they showed us The Irishman I fainted. That chicken's neck was too much.

    I'm currently in a Category D men's open prison in Lincolnshire.
    I'm due for release on Monday 20 January 2029 the same day President Trump's
    second term ends. I'm thinking of becoming a Punch and Judy Man.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A significant percentage of prisoners end up back inside a short time after their release. "That's not the way to do it!"

      Delete
  3. It's cool stuff but where will we end up with this information?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I will concede that AI has its uses, but I still don't like it and don't like how quickly it is taking over.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Is this called vanity googling? If it couldn't come up with your real name, I don't think it is that clever...yet.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Why not simply ask Cro Magnon in a comment on his blog or a personal message about his choice of blog name?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, yes, I could do that but I was testing out the AI Overview facility.

      Delete
  7. AI can be useful but my goodness it gets things rather muddled sometimes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think that there's significant muddle in the "Magnon's Meanderings" response.

      Delete
  8. With you and AI alike, I'm not taking for granted that what I'm reading is always the truth and nothing but... ;)

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  9. The results are quite interesting when you ask ChatGPT, or equivalent, to analyze someone’s blog posts.

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  10. To me AI is a road thank links London to Newcastle and is of far more use.

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  11. I cannot decide whether or not AI is a good thing or not. I am glad I am no longer teaching as I am sure students would be using AI to write essays etc., and I am not sure how it could be proved that they didn't write the words themselves. When I was teaching, if I suspected plagiarism, I just copied and pasted what I thought was not in the student's words and put it in a good search and violà, the website where it was taken from would appear.

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  12. You always need to fact check the googly answers. Interesting that it does not connect your real name, to your blog. It takes a little reading, but it is linked from your blog.

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  13. I refuse to see what AI might have to say about me. Not that it would matter in the least.

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  14. I don't use Google for searches anymore - I only use Duck, Duck, Go. I always ignore any AI response as I do not trust AI to get the facts straight.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I've noticed that the AI summary gets better and better, but I've never tried to look myself up. I'm sure it would confuse me with Steve Reed, the UK Housing Secretary. I know nothing about housing. I don't even own one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. On your behalf I asked Google a question about you and your blog:-

      Yes, there is a blog called "Shadows and Light" (often appearing in URLs as librarianwithsecrets.blogspot.com) that is written by an American man named Steve Reed.
      Based on search results, this Steve Reed has the following profile:
      Background: He is an American living in London with his partner, Dave.
      Blog Content: The blog features photography, daily journals, and discussions about London, New York City, books, movies, and theater.
      Occupation: He is a school librarian.
      References: He has been mentioned in other blogs, such as From My Mental Library.
      Note: This person is not the Steve Reed who is a British Labour Party politician or the Steve Reed who is a Christian author/life coach.

      Delete
  16. How the h... did that come about: "(often appearing in URLs as librarianwithsecrets.blogspot.com)"???

    ReplyDelete
  17. Overall, your regular readers (some of them are also my regular readers, and vice versa) have a balanced view of AI, and I can only applaud those who are fully aware that AI answers need to be checked and should not be taken as the absolute truth.

    A key sentence I keep hearing in the seminars, webinars and talks about AI that I have attended for work is one that I think would be good to add to your post:

    "AI is not about truth, it's about probability."

    I could elaborate on this, but it's your blog, of course.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Ha! Thanks for looking that up, although Google got my URL wrong! It seems to conflate my blog with Meike's, I suppose because we're both librarians. Get your act together, Google!

    I didn't know there was a Steve Reed who's a Christian life coach. Ugh!

    (For some reason Blogger won't let me post this as a "reply" so I have to do it as a separate comment.)

    ReplyDelete
  19. I had to try with mine, happy I was the first thing mentioned, just behind a hair loss clinic.

    ReplyDelete

Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

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