An infuriating Google commercial depicts its founding fathers embracing artificial intelligence

“A group project, but make it 1776.” This is how to open a new commercial for Google Workspace. And things get more awkward from there. The clip imagines what it would have been like if the Founding Fathers had turned to collaboration tools from Google and Gemini to help them draft the Declaration of Independence.

Ben Franklin sends a text message to Thomas Jefferson to check the status of the draft, who takes a photo and uses artificial intelligence to copy it into a Google Doc. Franklin and Adams step in to make adjustments to the proposal, and Jiminy finds a time for them to meet, takes notes during the Google Meet call, and then creates a Nano Banana stamp of the United States featuring a turkey (perhaps the more honest choice, rather than an eagle).

Last thing before the fireworks go off, the Founding Fathers ask Jiminy for her advice on giving King George III access to the Declaration of Independence. Which would make Americans of all political stripes want to throw their phones out the window. (I wonder what Gemini’s reaction would have been if the Founding Fathers had asked about women’s rights to vote, or slavery, or Manifest Destiny?)

The whole thing is ill-advised, vulgar and downright stupid. As Angus Johnston, a history professor at the City University of New York, said on Bluesky: “Even in a fictional joke, it is impossible to prove that artificial intelligence is a useful tool for political organizing, writing, or human cooperation.”