--- title: "Google Stops Its Test of AI-Generated Images Inside AI Overviews" description: "Google ran and then stopped a test placing AI-generated illustrations inside AI Overviews for recipe queries. It is not the Nano Banana feature." tldr: "Google tested showing AI-generated step illustrations inside AI Overviews on recipe queries, spotted on 13 August 2026 by publisher Inspired Taste. On 17 August, Robby Stein, VP of Product at Google Search, said on X that it was a small experiment Google is no longer running, and that it is distinct from the Nano Banana image generation announced in July, which is unaffected. Publishers had objected that generated illustrations substitute for the photography their recipe pages exist to provide." publishDate: 2026-08-18 author: "Liam Hayward" --- Google has stopped a test that placed AI-generated illustrations inside AI Overviews. The recipe publisher Inspired Taste spotted it on 13 August 2026 on a query for their own spaghetti squash recipe, where the Overview showed generated cartoon steps summarising how to cook the dish. On 17 August, Robby Stein, VP of Product at Google Search, replied on X: "This was a small experiment we're no longer running." The test was not confined to one query. Inspired Taste posted examples across several recipe searches, each following the same pattern: a generated diagram of the method sitting directly beneath Google's summary and its citation chip.

A Google AI Overview for 'how to cook spaghetti squash', with a generated eight-panel illustration headed 'Prep and Season' and 'Roast and Shred' showing an oven, a squash being sliced, seeds being scooped out and flesh scraped into strands, above a citation chip reading 'Forest Feast Suppe... +2'. — Click any shot to read it full size. Spaghetti squash, hummus, birria tacos and cheesecake: in each, Google's own artwork sits below the publishers it cites. Via: Inspired Taste, X.

A Google AI Overview for 'how to make hummus', with a generated panel headed 'Making Hummus' listing illustrated ingredients down the left and five numbered food-processor steps on the right, above a citation chip reading 'The Kitchn +1'. — Click any shot to read it full size. Spaghetti squash, hummus, birria tacos and cheesecake: in each, Google's own artwork sits below the publishers it cites. Via: Inspired Taste, X.

Stein also drew a line that matters for reading any coverage of this. The test is not the Nano Banana image generation Google [announced for AI Overviews in July](/seo-news-updates/google-images-revamp-ai-image-generation/), which only produces an image when a user explicitly asks for one. That feature is unaffected and still rolling out. What was pulled was Google generating illustrations unprompted, alongside citations to the pages it had drawn the steps from. Inspired Taste's objection was that the illustrations stand in for exactly the work a recipe page is built on, the testing, photography and video, and that a reader could reasonably assume one of the cited sites had produced the artwork. There is nothing to change on your site as a result, and the takeaway is about how to read the next one of these. An AI feature appearing in the wild is not the same as an announced rollout, and this one lasted four days. If you see something new inside an Overview affecting how your content is represented, record it with a screenshot and a date before deciding it is a permanent change, because unannounced experiments can be withdrawn as quickly as they appear. ## Sources - [Google Search pauses AI-generated images within AI Overviews, Search Engine Land](https://searchengineland.com/google-search-pauses-ai-generated-images-within-ai-overviews-485148) - [Google AI Overviews With AI-Generated Images In The Wild (Test Paused), Search Engine Roundtable](https://www.seroundtable.com/ai-generated-images-google-ai-overviews-41872.html)