Google is enhancing its well-known search engine with the latest version of its artificial intelligence technology as part of an initiative to deliver instant expertise, responding to heightened competition from smaller rivals.
On Wednesday, the company revealed its decision to integrate the Gemini 2.0 AI model into its search engine, which will allow it to tackle more intricate inquiries involving topics like computer programming and mathematics.
Continuing a trend that started last May, AI-generated summaries will be featured above traditional web links, which are crucial for online publishers who rely on traffic from Google’s dominant search engine.
Google is expanding the availability of AI-generated summaries in the U.S. by allowing teenage users to access them without needing a special sign-in process.
This development sets the stage for potential significant changes to the search engine’s interface, marking one of the most substantial updates since Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin began the company in a Silicon Valley garage in the late 1990s.
Google will initiate a phased rollout of an “AI mode” option, leading to the creation of even more AI-generated summaries. When this AI mode is activated, Google cautions that the overviews may adopt a more conversational tone and may sometimes mislead users, causing what the tech industry describes as “hallucinations.”
“As with any early-stage AI product, we may not always get it right,” stated Google product vice president Robby Stein in a blog post, which also recognized that “some responses might inadvertently seem to adopt a persona or convey a specific viewpoint.”
Stricter safeguards are expected to be implemented to mitigate the risk of AI mode guiding users incorrectly on health and finance-related queries.
The necessity for further refinement is one reason Google is initially restricting AI mode to its experimental Labs section, and only subscribers to its $20-a-month Google One AI Premium will have the opportunity to test it out at first.
However, these experiments typically pave the way for broader releases – a goal that Google is striving to achieve in reaction to AI-driven search engines like ChatGPT and Perplexity.
The increased reliance on more advanced AI-generated summaries could heighten concerns that fewer web surfers will click on links that lead to sites with helpful information regarding the topic.
Such traffic referrals are crucial for online publishers, as they attract the clicks necessary for selling digital advertisements that sustain their operations.
Google executives maintain that AI summaries continue to drive traffic to other sites by sparking curiosity, leading to increased queries for further information, which in turn results in more visits to different publishers.
Yet, these reassurances have not quelled the concerns of publishers who think that Google will emerge as the primary beneficiary of AI summaries, further bolstering an internet empire that already generates over $260 billion in yearly ad revenue.
The expanded deployment of AI summaries may also lead to more allegations that Google is misusing the power of a search engine that a federal judge deemed an illegal monopoly last year as part of an effort to uphold its status as the main access point to the internet.
The U.S. Justice Department, which filed monopoly charges against Google in 2020, is now suggesting a partial breakup of the company, which would include selling its Chrome browser as part of the sanctions. Hearings regarding the proposed penalties for Google, which could delve deeper into its AI usage, are scheduled to start next month in Washington, D.C.
Online education service Chegg has already amplified the monopoly case with a lawsuit filed last month in the same Washington court, accusing Google of improperly using information from its platform to include in its AI summaries. Google has denied these allegations.
