diff --git a/src/material-examples/autocomplete-overview/autocomplete-overview-example.ts b/src/material-examples/autocomplete-overview/autocomplete-overview-example.ts
index 637ea3541e48..b9616c8d9379 100644
--- a/src/material-examples/autocomplete-overview/autocomplete-overview-example.ts
+++ b/src/material-examples/autocomplete-overview/autocomplete-overview-example.ts
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ export class AutocompleteOverviewExample {
   }
 
   filterStates(val: string) {
-    return val ? this.states.filter(s => new RegExp(`^${val}`, 'gi').test(s))
+    return val ? this.states.filter(s => s.toLowerCase().indexOf(val.toLowerCase()) === 0)
                : this.states;
   }