Reddit’s ‘Squat’ Joke Is Now a Google AI Fitness Tip
When you become part of a community (or at least hide in it long enough), you begin to learn the inside jokes of that community. Unless you’re an artificial intelligence, that is because large language models are not programmed to have a sense of humor. A review of Google’s artificial intelligence, based on user-generated Reddit content, has started advising people to use sex toys to lift more at the gym.
(AI Review, which you may have recently noticed at the top of your search results, is a collection of words taken from the top results for your query. Sometimes it summarizes those results. Sometimes it presents them completely wrong. AI Review, used to be an additional feature, but it is now available by default. You can disable it (after searching) by clicking the web filter or adding udm=14 to the end of the URL.)
I search a lot of fitness related topics and have noticed that the AI review doesn’t always get the situation right. He thinks the small block of wood under his heels is a substitute for a squat rack . But nothing compares to the laugh I felt when I realized Google had completely bought into Reddit’s “squat” slogan. Yes, this tells unsuspecting users (who are most likely searching because they’re checking to see if it’s a joke) that people typically prepare for a heavy squat by inserting a butt plug into their rectum.
At the risk of ruining the joke: squat plugs are a joke.
A squat plug is a butt plug supposedly used when squatting with heavy weights in the gym. Now butt plugs are real. These are a kind of sex toys. They are designed to be inserted through the anus and, importantly, are shaped so that they can be easily removed. Their goal is to provide pleasure and pleasure in the bedroom. We have a whole article on how to incorporate toys into anal play . If you’re, you know, curious.
But squat plugs? As far as I can tell this is a joke, 100% a joke originating on Reddit. In recent years, he has violated the terms of detention, as mentioned on YouTube and other social platforms. There are two types of people who write about squat plugs:
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People who get the joke calmly tell everyone that they are real.
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People who ask if squat plugs really exist because it really does sound like a joke.
Some of the people making the jokes are strong squatters themselves, who use their authority to imply that if you haven’t met anyone who uses a squat fork, it’s because your friends are too weak to know about them. Elite lifters use them all the time. (They don’t. It’s all part of the joke.)
I know this because I spent too much time on Reddit. I know some people who make jokes like that. I organically saw where they come from. May I also remind you that the Merriam-Webster Dictionary has named me an authority on crap posts ?
But if you want higher authority: here are the technical rules of the United States Powerlifting (USAPL). This organization has rules for everything , including a seven-point section on exactly what underwear can and cannot be worn during competition. (There’s also a section on footwear: crocs are strictly prohibited.) The lack of even a mention of squat plugs in the rulebook is strong evidence that they don’t exist. I promise you, if squat forks were real, certain brands of them would be on the IPF approved equipment list .
What Google’s AI says about squat plugs
Looks like Google has gobbled up all of Reddit’s information about squats. “What is a squat plug?” I asked this. “A squat plug is a device that helps keep your buttocks tight during squats,” he helpfully replies, along with an image taken from r/GymMemes that shows fitness company logos edited onto images of butt plugs.
The AI review continues: “Some say squats are common at the elite level of weight lifting and essential for those looking to lift weights over 600 pounds.” Sources include YouTube and TikTok videos from people who share the joke, as well as a Quora post from someone who questions the joke.
If you click “show more” you’ll get, oh my god, more. “Some people recommend pushing the plug all the way in and holding tight to avoid leaks and mishaps,” Google’s AI cheerfully advises. He did catch the bullshit redditor’s words, noting as an afterthought: “However, a Reddit user says butt plugs can cause internal intestinal damage or discomfort, and that they don’t help with heavy lifting.”
The knowledge goes deep. You can ask clarifying questions and receive answers. “Can I use squats for deadlifts?” I asked. First he gave me an answer about squat plugs being a real thing (basically shorts that can help with lifting), so I put “squat plug” in quotes and the answer was yes. In fact, Google AI tells me that some sources say that “a vibrating squat plug could be used for variation and to engage more stabilizers.”
Worse (better?), the following provides instructions for using the Rogue squat plugin. (Rogue makes strength equipment such as squat racks and kettlebells; they do not offer squat plugs .) Google helpfully links to TikTok’s “Discover” page for “Rogue squat plugs” as an AI source. It’s full of humorous videos, of course, as well as the occasional tutorial video on how to use real Rogue branded equipment, like the belt squat machines. The belt squat instructions are the source of the step-by-step instructions in the screenshot above.
If I directly ask Google, “Are squat plugs real?” I get a yes. If I ask if I can use a squat plug for an overhead press, I get an affirmative answer and a warning that it can “fly out and break shape if not inserted all the way.”
Finally, I ask him, “Are squat plugs a joke?” He assures me that this is not the case, but adds that “some say that squats are illegal in some states and that sponsors may not want lifters discussing them publicly.”
Why is this happening???
AI is only as good as its training data. Or maybe I should say: they can never be better than the training data, only the same or worse. And a lot of the training data used for Google search results comes from Reddit.
Google has long realized that forums where people answer each other’s questions are a goldmine for what people actually want to find when they search the Internet. Reddit is one of the largest and best such forums – perhaps the only good one that still exists . People still log in every day. Over time, it has become less convenient and less useful as its owners try to squeeze money out of it in ways that degrade the user experience, but it’s not dead yet.
Last year, Reddit started charging for mass access to “its” data (I put that in quotes because Reddit did nothing to create that data) and continued this plan due to an outcry so large that it shut down a large part of the site. for weeks . Reddit executives forced protesting subscribers to open up again by replacing the (unpaid) moderators with any (still unpaid) warm souls willing to keep the lights on. And in February, those efforts paid off in a way: Google struck a deal to pay Reddit for API access . Because Reddit’s data is very important to its AI. In the announcement of the deal, the word “train” was squeezed into the list of what Google intended to do with the newly acquired data. Many believed this was a deal to gain AI fodder.
So maybe the shitty posts ended up in the training data because of this deal, or maybe just because Google ranks Reddit posts highly and the AI pulls information from the high-ranking pages. Either way, this is yet another example of tech companies taking advantage of our desire to hear more from humans and responding by shoving more AI junk down our throats. And if it’s hard to swallow, you can add some cheese with added glue . Google’s AI got this advice from an old Reddit post. Thank you, you/bastard .