Google search results have been presenting generative AI images in a way that suggests they were examples of a real artist's work

For the second time in just one month, Google's search engine has allowed an AI-generated fake of a famous artist's work to rise to the top of its search results.

Earlier this May, we reported that when Google users searched for the iconic American realist artist "Edward Hopper," the search engine's top result was an AI-generated knockoff in the style of the American painter. Google fixed the issue — but not before the phony Hopper had become the featured image in its overview of the artist and his work.

Now, just a few weeks later, it's happened again with a different artist. Google the Dutch baroque master "Johannes Vermeer" — no mention of AI, no mention of a specific painting — and you'll be met with an AI-produced rendition of the painter's classic "Girl with a Pearl Earring" as the top result.

And yes, just like the fake Hopper, the AI-generated Vermeer — first spotted by a sharp-eyed art fan — currently sits as the featured image in the Google overview. Here's what it looks like: