The new vision for the world's largest search engine has been presented by Google.
“Google will search Google for you.This is the vision that Liz Reid, the head of the search department, presented on stage at Google I/O on Tuesday, writes businessinsider.com.
Google demos showed how Search can now find yoga studios in your city that have introductory offers, create meal plans for a picky family, and even detect what's wrong with your tape player and suggest fixes just by analyzing video recordings that you do with your phone.
It's a dramatic change to the functionality of the world's biggest search engine as Google tries to take the lead in the artificial intelligence race that has captivated tech companies.
In many ways, the new search box works like a Gemini box – with AI-generated answers that you can talk to like a chatbot.
Launching in the US starting today, AI Overviews will use “multi-stage reasoning” to answer complex questions in a single search, Reid said.
“Research that could have taken you minutes or hours, Google can now do on your behalf in seconds.”
Google Gemini search features can even make suggestions they didn't ask for. For example, a query for a holiday restaurant recommendation might return results indicating live music or rooftop availability.
These types of AI-curated searches will soon be available in categories such as movies, music, books, hotels and shopping, Reid said.
Google's new vision for search isn't just a sea change for its future, it could transform the way the internet works on a larger scale.
Much of the internet's architecture is designed around business models that use SEO to drive traffic – and advertising money. Turning search into a chatbot could affect how traffic is distributed.
After all, why click on a link when Google Search can now summarize the information you need?
But Reid appeared to address concerns that the changes could lead to a drop in website visits in a post on the company's blog.
“We notice that links included in AI Overviews get more clicks than if the page appeared as a traditional web listing for that query,” she wrote. “As we expand this experience, we will continue to focus on sending valuable traffic to publishers and creators.”
Google has long dominated the search landscape, but its latest advances come amid increased competition from OpenAI.
On Monday, the AI giant unveiled the GPT-4o — its next big-language AI flagship with enhanced voice and vision capabilities.
Axel Springer, the parent company of Business Insider, has entered into a global agreement to allow OpenAI to train its models based on reports from its media brands.
