"Quick Answer" questionmark generates text despite no search results for query

Khyta

I noticed that when searching for a query that has no results and appending a ? at the end to trigger Quick Answer, it generates text, even if there is no search results to synthesize an answer from. I searched for "IBM InfoSphere Sensemaking" +DOD? and got a Quick Answer back:

Note that you can only force this behavior by manually putting a ? (or selecting the suggested "Quick Answer" auto-completion while typing) at the end of the query, as the "Quick Answer" button itself is deactivated when no search result is found.

I expected that the Quick Answer function to not work and not generate a text when there are no results to begin with.

nobodywasishere

~~Quick Answer will perform a second search if the first one fails for some reason (this shouldn't count towards your limit)~~ That doesn't apply to this case. That is fair - will fix this!

Edit: Looking into this, I'm not sure this is a bug, as the Quick Answer model can still provide value in cases like this even if there are no search results.

Khyta

If you decide that this isn't a bug, but an intended feature, then you must enable the "Quick Answer" button, as it is disabled when no search result is available.

I would consider it a bug, as the AI will hallucinate the entire text without any meaningful sources it would normally take from available search results when those are present to cite.