Infuriating Google commercial imagines the founding fathers embracing AI

Google released a new Workspace commercial imagining Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams using Google Docs, Meet, and Gemini to collaborate in 1776. The Verge criticizes the ad as cringeworthy, highlighting scenes where Gemini schedules meetings, transcribes drafts, and generates a U.S. seal concept.

The ad shows how aggressively Google is positioning AI as a default layer inside workplace collaboration tools, even through exaggerated historical scenarios. The backlash also reflects growing fatigue with AI marketing that reframes creative or civic milestones as productivity workflows.