How ‘Twilight’ Ruined Google Image Search Forever

Temporary popularity may permanently fool an otherwise intelligent algorithm

Photo illustration: Mike Wehner. Source: Riyaz Hyder/Unsplash

Join me in an experiment. We’re going to search for various times of day using Google’s Image Search. We’ll use a fresh Google Chrome Incognito window to ensure our results aren’t skewed. This is scientific, after all, and we want the most accurate results possible.

First, let’s try “sunrise.”

Screenshots by the author

Well done, Google! I’m proud of you. Those are definitely photos of the sunrise. Now let’s try “midday.”

A bit more variety in these results but still totally fine. Google, you’re doing quite well. I’m impressed. How about “dusk?”

Perfect. Maybe Google’s all-knowing algorithms really do surface exactly what you’re looking for every single time…