Google Rolls Out New Generative AI Search Features
Google has unveiled several upgrades to its AI-powered search experience aimed at improving comprehension and discovery of information on the web. The new tools include enhanced definitions within search responses, more information about code, and and AI summaries of webpages.
Search AI
The new definitions cover topics in science, economics, history, and other academic disciplines. Users can hover over underlined words to preview definitions and related visuals for key concepts. For coders, syntax highlighting will now color-code elements in AI-generated code snippets to make them easier to parse. Keywords, comments, and strings will be differentiated to help programmers quickly understand the suggested code. Google also launched an experiment called “SGE while browsing” in its Search Labs. Available on mobile and coming soon to desktop Chrome, the feature generates an AI summary of key points for long-form webpages. Users can tap the summary to jump to relevant sections of an article, helping them zero in on details without reading the full piece. The tool is designed for public pages, excluding paywalled content. According to Google, the goal is testing how generative AI can aid comprehension and navigation of complex online content. Feedback will inform the experiment’s evolution.
“Our aim is to test how generative AI can help you navigate information online and get to the core of what you’re looking for even faster. “SGE while browsing” was specifically designed to help people more deeply engage with long-form content from publishers and creators, and make it easier to find what you’re looking for while browsing the web,” Google Search vice president of product management Rany Ng explained in a blog post. “We think these capabilities can be particularly helpful when you’re learning something new or complex, but they can also come in handy for other tasks like finding a new recipe or researching a big purchase.”
Enhanced definitions will help users efficiently learn new concepts while browsing. Code syntax highlighting provides quick visual parsing for programmers. And key point summaries assist with digesting in-depth articles. The new capabilities build on Google’s generative AI search experience unveiled last year. The company said positive early reception has spurred continuous improvements to enhance utility. Recent updates have added more visuals to overviews and optimized link display. The latest features aim to take comprehension and discovery to the next level for a broad range of use cases. Google has committed itself to leveraging generative AI to simplify searching and consuming information across the web. The experiments underscore its focus on gathering user feedback to refine its AI search experience. With competitors like Bing also investing heavily in generative search, Google is aiming to maintain its advantage by rapidly iterating new features tailored to user needs. The upgrades display its ambition to keep search at the forefront of AI innovation.
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