AI has been the dominating force in this year’s Google I/O—and one of the biggest announcements that Google made was a new Gemini model customized for Google Search. Over the next few weeks, Google will be rolling out a few AI features in Search, including AI Overviews, AI-organized search results, and search with video.
AI Overviews
When you’re searching for something on Google and want a quick answer, AI Overviews come into play. The feature gives you an AI-generated overview of the topic you’re searching for, and cites its sources with links you can click through for further reading. Google was testing AI Overviews in Search Labs, but has been rolling out the feature to everyone in the U.S. this week.
At a later date, you’ll be able to adjust your AI Overview with options to simplify some of the terminology used, and even break down results in more detail. Ideally, you could turn a complex search into something accessible for anyone. Google is also pushing a feature that lets you stack multiple queries into one search: The company used the example of “find the best yoga or pilates studios in Boston and show me details on their intro offers, and walking time from Beacon Hill,” and AI Overviews returned a complete result.
As with other AI-generated models, you can also use this feature to put together plans of action, including creating meal plans and prepping for a trip.
AI-organized results
In addition to AI Overviews, Google Search will soon be using generative AI to create an “AI-organized results page.” The idea is the AI will intelligently sort your most relevant options for you, so you won’t have to do as much digging around the web. So when you’re searching for something like, say, restaurants for a birthday dinner, Google’s AI will suggest the best options it can find, organized beneath AI-generated headlines. AI-organized results will be available for English searches in the U.S.
Search with video
Google previously rolled out Circle to Search, which lets you circle elements of your screen to start a Google search for that particular subject. But soon, you’ll also be able to start a Google search with video. The company gave an example of a customer who bought a used record player whose needle wasn’t working properly. The customer took a video of the issue, describing it out loud, and sent it along as a Google search. Google analyzed the issue and returned a relevant result, as if the user had simply typed out the problem in detail.
Search with video will soon be available for Search Labs users in English in the U.S. Google will expand the feature to more users in the coming months.
