Machine Heart

May 28, 2026 · Artificial Intelligence

Why Google’s AI Can’t Count the Letters in Its Own Name

The article examines why the newly AI‑powered Google Search fails at simple letter‑count questions like “how many P’s are in Google,” tracing the issue to token‑based language models, illustrating it with examples, and discussing both short‑term prompts and long‑term architectural solutions such as byte‑level models.