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Google has announced that it will launch AI-generated responses to internet requests, marking one of the most significant upgrades to its world-leading search engine in 25 years.
“I’m excited to announce that we will begin launching this fully revamped experience, ‘AI overviews,’ to everyone in the US this week,” Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said.
The transformation will soon extend to other countries, he said, making it available to more than a billion people.
Google’s search results will include an AI summary at the top of the page before the usual unfurling of links.
Google’s Gemini technology will develop AI blurbs that provide concise descriptions of what it discovered on the internet, as well as connections to the online sources that provided the material.
“You can ask whatever’s on your mind or whatever you need to get done — from researching to planning to brainstorming — and Google will take care of the legwork,” Liz Reid, head of the Google Search team, said.
The change comes as Google faces increasing pressure from AI-powered search engines such as Perplexity, as well as persistent reports that OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, is developing its own AI search tool.
AI chats have also been used to conduct searches on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, allowing users to obtain information from the internet without using Google.
Some people like these alternatives because they provide a more organized experience than the typically cluttered results of a traditional inquiry.
Creators and small publishers are concerned about the shift, worrying that visitors may no longer click through to websites for information. Gartner expects that the usage of AI bots will reduce web traffic from search engines by 25% by 2026.
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