{"id":133795,"date":"2026-08-08T15:54:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T15:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/133795\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T15:54:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T15:54:09","slug":"googles-ai-claimed-flock-cameras-hold-650-in-gold-and-23-pounds-of-copper-it-was-duped-by-meme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/133795\/","title":{"rendered":"Google’s AI claimed Flock cameras hold $650 in gold and 23 pounds of copper \u2014 It was duped by meme"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/a> Justin Sullivan\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

As recently as Aug. 5, <\/a>Google’s AI was telling<\/a> anyone who asked it that a Flock license plate camera reader holds up to 23 pounds of copper, plus several grams of gold \u2014 roughly $650. <\/p>\n

The claim traces back to a joke <\/a>that’s been circulating for months. Flock’s cameras, which photograph license plates and feed them into databases used by police, have a lot of enemies online. <\/p>\n

Must Read <\/p>\n

Among privacy activists, a running gag took hold: there’s supposedly a small fortune in metal inside each unit, so why not turn one into scrapyard money? It was a bit, not a tip. Google’s AI didn’t get the joke and started repeating it as fact. Adding to the mishap is the fact the Flock camera actually weighs about three pounds<\/a>. <\/p>\n

What the AI Overview said <\/p>\n

Futurism’s Joe Wilkins reported<\/a> that if you searched “how much gold does a Flock camera have,” Google gave you a straight answer. Each camera holds “about 1 to 5 grams of gold” in its circuit boards and wiring, the Overview claimed, along with as much as 23 pounds of copper. At that week’s gold prices, 5 grams came to roughly $650 per camera. <\/p>\n

And where did Google find all this? Two places. One was a Substack post<\/a> from an anonymous account called “do.not.obey.do.not.comply,” which put the scrap value at $150 to $500. Even that post didn’t pretend to know \u2014 it said the figure came from “estimates based on scrap-value discussions,” which is a long way of saying somebody guessed. The other source was an AI-generated Instagram post<\/a> telling followers to tear into the hardware. The account behind it mostly posts about growing cannabis. <\/p>\n

That was the entire evidence base behind an answer sitting in Google’s most prominent slot, above every actual webpage. <\/p>\n

Google didn’t respond<\/a> when Futurism reached out for comment. But by Aug. 6, when <\/a>TechSpot’s Skye Jacobs checked<\/a>, the answer had flipped: the Overview now tells you the copper claim can’t be true because the whole unit weighs about 3 pounds, that any gold is trace-level, and that the rumors “come from internet memes and AI hallucinations, not facts.” <\/p>\n

Which means a meme boosted by an AI-generated post, then repeated by Google’s AI, is now being knocked down by the same AI that spread it. <\/p>\n

Story Continues <\/p>\n

Read More: Vanguard reveals what’s coming for U.S. stocks \u2014 and it could be bad news for this group of investors<\/a> <\/p>\n

Why the scrap math never worked, anyway <\/p>\n

Gold was trading around $4,350 an ounce on Aug. 7, about $140 a gram<\/a>, so it’s easy to see why the meme sounded like a real cash grab opportunity. At that price, 5 grams would mean around $700 worth is just hanging on a pole. For anyone drawn to the metal itself, there are far easier ways to invest in gold<\/a> than climbing one. <\/p>\n

But that gold isn’t in there \u2014 at least not in any way you could get at. There’s gold in a Flock camera the same way there’s gold in your phone: tiny traces spread across circuit boards and connectors, recoverable only if you know exactly what you’re doing. Futurism figured<\/a> that without circuit-board scrapping experience, you’d be “hard pressed to earn enough to buy a Big Mac.” <\/p>\n

The copper number that Google’s AI spat out was even worse. You can’t fit 23 pounds of anything inside a 3-pound device<\/a>, and nothing in the answer suggested the AI ever ran that check. So the realistic outcome of someone following Google’s advice was a vandalism charge and a handful of parts worth a few dollars at best. <\/p>\n

Why it matters for the rest of us <\/p>\n

This AI overview got flagged because the error was funny and the subject was controversial. But the process that produced it was ordinary: somebody asked a question, the AI went hunting for text that resembled an answer, and the best matches happened to be a meme and the posts repeating it. <\/p>\n

That same system answers financial questions all day. Someone earning $70,000 who searches for the rules on early 401(k) withdrawals<\/a>, or whether they owe capital gains on a home sale<\/a>, is reading output from the same process. <\/p>\n

Every AI Overview lists its sources as small links under the text \u2014 click them to read the original sources before you trust a number. If the trail ends at the IRS’ website, a company filing or a named expert, you’re probably fine. If it ends at an anonymous Substack, treat the number like a stranger’s hot tip, because that’s what it is. <\/p>\n

Moneywise contacted Google and Flock Safety for comment, but did not hear back in time for publication. <\/p>\n

What To Read Next <\/p>\n

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This article originally appeared on Moneywise.com<\/a> under the title: Google’s AI claimed Flock cameras hold $650 in gold and 23 pounds of copper \u2014 It was duped by meme<\/a> <\/p>\n

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind. <\/p>\n