Google announced a fresh set of updates to its search engine on Tuesday, adding brand-new generative AI capabilities that are meant to improve how users access and comprehend content online.
The company’s most recent release expands upon its new Search Generative Experience (SGE), which debuted earlier this year in testing. Users of SGE can use AI to their advantage to receive additional contextual overviews and recommendations in addition to their search engine results.
A branch of AI research called “generative AI” is concerned with developing fresh content from existing sources. Both ChatGPT and Stable Diffusion are well-known generative AI systems that create new text-based works, such as poems, answers, and summaries, based on previously learned information.
A new function called “SGE while browsing,” which is still in early testing, is the most noteworthy improvement to Google’s SGE. When enabled, users can hit a button to acquire an AI-generated list of the major points covered by a web page’s content while they are viewing it. In lengthy or complex publications, it is simple to navigate to the information you need because each point contains a direct link to the pertinent portion.
Google’s AI engine examines the text of pages to pinpoint key subjects. This, according to Google Product Lead Rany Ng, “better learns and makes sense of information” for users, whether they’re attempting to understand difficult ideas or are just looking for a recipe detail.
Similar summarizing functions are currently available in Microsoft’s Bing Chat, which launched in February before Google. Google thinks it has an advantage because of its prowess at comprehending semantics and web content, though.
Hovering your pointer over unfamiliar terminology in AI-generated responses will also uncover definitions and relevant diagrams, for example, while AI-generated coding overviews will highlight syntax for simpler digesting.
Google claims that generative AI makes searching easier so users may “uncover new viewpoints and insights.” However, other scientists warn that an excessive reliance on AI runs the risk of eroding human analytical capacity.
