A briefly impactful issue surrounding inaccuracies in Google’s Gemini AI demonstration affected Alphabet Inc.’s stock price in February 2024, prompting scrutiny of the company’s AI development and marketing practices.
Alphabet Inc.
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Alphabet Inc. is a multinational conglomerate and the parent company of Google. It is one of the world’s most valuable companies, with a market capitalization exceeding $1.7 trillion as of January 30, 2026. Securities and Exchange Commission filings detail its financial performance and corporate structure.
Google Gemini AI
Google Gemini is a multimodal large language model created by Google DeepMind. According to Google DeepMind, Gemini is capable of processing text, code, audio, images, and video. The model is available in three sizes: Ultra, Pro, and Nano.
Gemini’s Demonstration and Accuracy Concerns
The controversy began in February 2024 following the release of a promotional video showcasing Gemini’s capabilities. The video demonstrated gemini responding to prompts with images and videos, but it was later revealed that the demonstrations were heavily edited and did not accurately reflect the model’s real-time performance. Specifically, prompts requesting depictions of people of different ethnicities yielded historically inaccurate results, prompting accusations of bias.
The initial demonstration claimed Gemini could process and respond to video prompts in real-time, but The verge reported that the responses were actually generated through a series of carefully crafted prompts and editing, rather than a single, continuous interaction.
Impact on Alphabet’s Stock
The inaccuracies in the Gemini demonstration briefly impacted Alphabet’s stock price. Reuters reported that Alphabet lost over $50 billion in market value on February 8, 2024, following the revelations about the edited demonstration. The stock price declined approximately 4.4% during that trading session.
While the stock price recovered in subsequent days, the incident raised concerns among investors about Google’s quality control and clarity in its AI development process. As of January 30, 2026, Alphabet’s stock (GOOGL) is trading at approximately $150 per share, reflecting overall market conditions and investor confidence. Yahoo finance provides current stock information.
Google’s Response
Google acknowledged that the promotional video was misleading and stated that it was intended to showcase Gemini’s potential rather than its current capabilities. In a blog post, Google apologized for the inaccuracies and committed to greater transparency in its future AI demonstrations. The company also paused Gemini’s image generation of people, promising to refine the tool to address bias concerns.
