Generative AI and Material Culture: The Case of Canadian Costume Jewelry

Mid-century Canadian costume jewelry has been largely forgotten in national discourses. Nonetheless, Google AI Search disseminates summaries of this overlooked history, bringing its lost narratives into the public sphere. Yet these summaries blend authentic information with fabrications. Google AI narratives about a mid-century Canadian costume jewelry company serve as a case study for analyzing the effects of narrative building in Google AI Search. Falsehoods presented as “facts” in Google AI summaries offer concoctions about this company, eclipsing narratives that interlace ethnicity, gender, and language. This research combines material culture research with archival work, interviews, jewelry collection fieldwork, and jewelry curation.