I think I have been insulted by Artificial Intelligence. Which proves that while it may be artificial it certainly is not intelligent.

I wanted some pictures to illustrate Thursday’s post. It isn’t as if I kept a souvenir soft drink can around from 1960. So I searched online for “Top Valu Ginger Ale.” Surely someone in a fit if nostalgia had posted something.

As is the case with any search engine these days, the first thing that came up was from AI, in this case the one developed by Google. It told me I was wrong.

“Top Valu,” it told me, “is most likely a misspelling of Great Value, Walmart’s store brand, as no major ginger ale exists under the specific name ‘Top Valu.'”

Well yes, that was my point. I was looking for information on something that no longer exists.

Instead of providing information, it tells me that “top” was a misspelling of “great” and then goes on to provide me with the ingredients for Walmart’s ginger ale.

If I had wanted to know what was in the stuff I would have asked. And I was no further ahead in my quest.

Just doing a regular image search did find an empty can, on eBay, for $32.99. Full it probably cost less than a dime 60 years ago. I guess someone has to pay for storing it all these years.