Highlights
- Google introduces AI Overviews in Search after year-long Labs phase.
- AI Overviews generate summaries and responses in real-time.
- New search experience prioritizes AI-generated results over traditional links.
- Rollout begins in the US, with global access by the end of 2024.
Google is officially launching its AI-powered “Overviews” in Search for all users after the year-long “Labs” phase.
This means a big change in how we interact with the web.
The Search Generative Experience uses generative AI in addition to search results in order to generate AI summaries and responses based on data from Search in real-time.
With this rollout, Google said “hundreds of millions” of users will have access to AI Overviews, and the company expects to make it available to over a billion people by the end of the year.
“We’ve been working on AI for well over a decade and yet we know we are still in the very early days of this incredible platform shift” said Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Google parent firm Alphabet.
“We are encouraged to see not only an increase in search usage, but also an increase in user satisfaction,” Pichai said.
“This is just a glimpse of how we’re reimagining Google Search — combining the very best of Search today with Gemini’s advanced capabilities. Soon, Google will do the searching, simplifying, researching, planning, brainstorming and so much more” Reid said.
“For example, if you search for your license plate. In the past, you would find pictures of cars and you would have to scroll and find the license plate. We can automatically answer it now for you” Pichai said.
“You can also ask more complex questions.
The New Search Experience
Google is setting the SGE’s “AI Overviews” as the standard Search experience as of right now.
This new search experience, with the help of Gemini, will bring the traditional search results further down the page for a large number of searches where Google’s systems think that generative AI could be helpful.
The AI Overviews mostly provide a limited number of links to each inquiry, and sometimes they appear only when the entire AI-generated response has been expanded.
The rollout for all users is first for the US, and other countries are soon to follow.
By the end of 2024, Google estimates that more than a billion users will have access to AI Overviews.
New Options to Search
Google will add a “web” option to search, so users can bypass AI answers and see just links, even though AI Overviews is the new feature but resembles Knowledge Panels or Featured Snippets.
The move comes amidst rising competition from industry stalwarts Microsoft, OpenAI, and Perplexity; the growing rise of AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Copilot, and Claude; and Google conforming to the changing, more conversational way consumers now interact with information.
Google’s Need for AI Search
The possible effects of Google Search’s AI makeover on websites that significantly rely on Search traffic are one area of concern.
According to some estimates, this change may cause up to 25% of visitors to disappear over the next few years, making the problems that many websites already confront even worse.
Google is moving on with its AI-powered search experience in spite of these reservations.
Search advertisements will still show up in specific spots and will be clearly labeled as sponsored and organic results.
Search and shopping advertising beneath search results in SGE are among the new ad formats that Google is experimenting with, according to remarks made by Philipp Schindler, Alphabet’s chief business officer, last month.
FAQs
What are Google’s AI-powered Search Overviews?
Google’s AI-powered Search Overviews use generative AI to create summaries and responses in addition to traditional search results.
This new feature aims to provide more informative and concise answers to user queries.
How does the new Search Generative Experience work?
The Search Generative Experience integrates AI Overviews with regular search results, prioritizing AI-generated responses for relevant queries.
Traditional search results are moved further down the page when AI summaries are displayed.
When will the AI-powered Search Overviews be available to users?
The rollout for AI-powered Search Overviews has begun in the US and is expected to be available globally by the end of 2024.
Google estimates that more than a billion users will have access to this new search experience.
Can users opt to see traditional search results instead of AI Overviews?
Yes, Google is adding a “web” option to search, allowing users to bypass AI answers and see only traditional links.
This option provides flexibility for users who prefer the classic search experience.
Generative AI in Search : Does Google do the searching for you?
Get quick answers with AI Overviews
Sometimes you want a quick answer, but you don’t have time to piece together all the information you need. Search will do the work for you with AI Overviews.
People have already used AI Overviews billions of times through our experiment in Search Labs.
They like that they can get both a quick overview of a topic and links to learn more. We’ve found that with AI Overviews, people use Search more, and are more satisfied with their results.
So today, AI Overviews will begin rolling out to everyone in the U.S., with more countries coming soon.
That means that this week, hundreds of millions of users will have access to AI Overviews, and we expect to bring them to over a billion people by the end of the year.
With AI Overviews, people are visiting a greater diversity of websites for help with more complex questions.
And we see that the links included in AI Overviews get more clicks than if the page had appeared as a traditional web listing for that query. As we expand this experience, we’ll continue to focus on sending valuable traffic to publishers and creators.
As always, ads will continue to appear in dedicated slots throughout the page, with clear labeling to distinguish between organic and sponsored results.
Adjust your AI Overview
Soon, you’ll be able to adjust your AI Overview with options to simplify the language or break it down in more detail.
This can be particularly useful if you’re new to a topic, or if you’re trying to simplify something to satisfy your kid’s curiosity.
This update is coming soon to Search Labs, for English queries in the U.S.
Ask your most complex questions
With our custom Gemini model’s multi-step reasoning capabilities, AI Overviews will help with increasingly complex questions.
Rather than breaking your question into multiple searches, you can ask your most complex questions, with all the nuances and caveats you have in mind, all in one go.
For example, maybe you’re looking for a new yoga or pilates studio, and you want one that’s popular with locals, conveniently located for your commute, and also offers a discount for new members.
Soon, with just one search, you’ll be able to ask something like “find the best yoga or pilates studios in Boston and show me details on their intro offers, and walking time from Beacon Hill.”
These multi-step reasoning capabilities are coming soon to AI Overviews in Search Labs, for English queries in the U.S.
Plan ahead
Beyond finding the right answer or information for a complex question, Search will also be able to plan with you.
With planning capabilities directly in Search, you can get help creating plans for whatever you need, starting with meals and vacations.
Search for something like “create a 3 day meal plan for a group that’s easy to prepare,” and you’ll get a starting point with a wide range of recipes from across the web.
If you want to change anything, you can easily ask for whatever adjustments you need, like swapping dinner to a vegetarian dish. Just like that, Search will customize your meal plan. You’ll be able to quickly export your meal plan to Docs or Gmail.
Meal and trip planning are available now in Search Labs in English in the U.S. Later this year, we’ll add customization capabilities and more categories like parties, date night and workouts.
Explore an AI-organized results page
When you’re looking for fresh ideas, it can take a lot of work to find inspiration and consider all your options. Soon, when you’re looking for ideas, Search will use generative AI to brainstorm with you and create an AI-organized results page that makes it easy to explore.
You’ll see helpful results categorized under unique, AI-generated headlines, featuring a wide range of perspectives and content types.
For English searches in the U.S., you’ll start to see this new AI-organized search results page when you look for inspiration — starting soon with dining and recipes, followed by movies, music, books, hotels, shopping and more.
Take a video, get help from AI
Search is so much more than just words in a text box. Often the questions you have are about the things you see around you, including objects in motion.
Thanks to advancements in video understanding, we’re able to take visual search to a whole new level, with the ability to ask questions with video.
Maybe you bought a record player at a thrift shop, but it’s not working when you turn it on and the metal piece with the needle is drifting unexpectedly. Searching with video saves you the time and trouble of finding the right words to describe this issue, and you’ll get an AI Overview with steps and resources to troubleshoot.
Searching with video will be available soon for Search Labs users in English in the U.S., and we’ll expand to more regions over time.
This is just a glimpse of how we’re reimagining Google Search — combining the very best of Search today with the Gemini model’s advanced capabilities.
Soon, Google will do the searching, simplifying, researching, planning, brainstorming and so much more.
Also Read: Microsoft Introduces Innovative AI Tools Including Copilot to Revolutionise Education
Also Read: Google Gemini Update Brings Automatic Voice Commands, To Expand to Headphones
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