Google’s Gemini AI chatbot has been available for a while now, but for the most part, it has not attempted to replace your search experience. You might have seen the occasional AI-fueled search result every so often, but that has been a limited test. Now, as part of the new AI updates announced by Google, Search is getting a few changes.
Google has announced a major overhaul of its Search engine,integrating generative AI to the search engineto provide more comprehensive and direct answers to user queries. Powered by a new Gemini model that’s apparently specifically tailor-made for Search, the upgraded engine will offer AI Overviews, quick summaries of topics with links for further exploration, to all U.S. users this week, with global expansion expected by the year’s end.
The AI Overviews will soon be adjustable for language simplification or more detailed breakdowns. The enhanced engine will also handle complex multi-step questions, going beyond single searches to address nuanced queries in one go. Not only is it good at searching and retrieving information for you, but the upgraded Search will offer planning capabilities, starting with meal and trip planning, with customization options and additional categories like parties and workouts to be added later this year. It looks like it will eventually become one of the most commonly-used ways to interact with Gemini, and by leveraging Search, its most popular product, the company can elevate its presence in the AI space greatly.
The AI will also brainstorm with users to create organized results pages categorized under AI-generated headlines, offering diverse perspectives and content types, initially focusing on dining, recipes, and entertainment. Search will also incorporate video understanding, allowing you to ask questions about objects in motion through videos. This last specific feature will be available soon to Search Labs users in the United States, with expanded availability coming sometime after that.
The rest of this looks like it should be launching to most people within the week or within the next few weeks, so if you want to play around with Google’s AI search capabilities, it should open up soon.
