After having rushed through their response to Bing’s AI chat by releasing ‘Bard’ and hitting the news for being accused of holding back advanced AI from the public, Google releases its AI-powered Search Engine for public testing.
Google has released its latest update to Search; announcing that it’s bringing in the use of generative AI to give you more information and context to your searches.
So, what do you need to know about this new update and how will it actually benefit users of Google Search?
What You Need To Know
On May 10th, Google announced that it had introduced generative AI to its Search. It’s named Search Generative Experience, or SGE. This is a brand-new feature and is in the experimental stages.
With this new update, Google aims to help its users “understand a topic faster, uncover new viewpoints and insights, and get things done more easily.”
In the announcement blog post, Google cites an example query and explains how the new AI update provides better, clearer results; “what’s better for a family with kids under 3 and a dog, bryce canyon or Arches.”
It goes on to explain that usually, the user would likely break this down into two separate search queries and then do a lot of research themselves to help weigh up the decision.
But now, you’ll see an AI-powered snapshot of key information to consider, allowing you to dig deeper by following carefully selected links to sources.
“Below this snapshot, you’ll see suggested next steps, including the ability to ask follow-up questions, like “How long to spend at Bryce Canyon with kids?” When you tap on these, it takes you to a new conversational mode, where you can ask Google more about the topic you’re exploring,” Google added.
It explains the context is carried over from question to question, which appears to be similar to the way ChatGPT works. You can continue the conversation naturally and Google will continue to provide the user with different perspectives and jumping-off points to web content.
Providing A Live Shopping Experience
This update, if it moves past the experimental stages, could revolutionise the way we search for data. Google’s addition of generative AI also applies to your shopping experience.
When searching for a product in Google, you’ll be presented with a snapshot of information to help you compare and make choices when it comes to making a purchase. Google says it will make “even the most considered and complex purchase decisions faster and easier.”
The new shopping experience is based on Google’s Shopping Graph, which has “more than 35 billion product listings”. You’ll get up-to-date and live information as you search.
Google states that it remains committed to sending traffic to high-quality websites and the new search experience will continue to display ads that are easily distinguishable from organic search results.
This is a pretty exciting update, but even Google admits generative AI has its flaws. In their announcement, they state that they are taking a “responsible and deliberate approach to bringing generative AI to Search” and said that they’re committed to upholding Search’s high bar for quality.
SGE can be accessed via Google’s Search Labs, a new way, Google says, to access early experiments in search. SGE is currently limited to the U.S. and is only available in the English language.
