Google adds AI-crafted summaries to search. Could that impact web traffic?
Global News
The makeover will begin this week in the U.S., where users will periodically see conversational summaries generated by Google's AI technology at the top of search results.
Google on Tuesday rolled out a retooled search engine that will frequently favor responses crafted by artificial intelligence over website links, a shift promising to quicken the quest for information while also potentially disrupting the flow of money-making internet traffic.
The makeover announced at Google’s annual developers conference will begin this week in the U.S. when hundreds of millions of people will start to periodically see conversational summaries generated by the company’s AI technology at the top of the search engine’s results page.
The AI overviews are supposed to only crop up when Google’s technology determines they will be the quickest and most effective way to satisfy a user’s curiosity — a solution mostly likely to happen with complex subjects or when people are brainstorming, or planning. People will likely still see Google’s traditional website links and ads for simple searches for things like a store recommendation or weather forecasts.
Google began testing AI overviews with a small subset of selected users a year ago, but the company is now making it one of the staples in its search results in the U.S. before introducing the feature in other parts of the world. By the end of the year, Google expects the recurring AI overviews to be part of its search results for about 1 billion people.
Besides infusing more AI into its dominant search engine, Google also used the packed conference held at a Mountain View, California, amphitheater near its headquarters to showcase advances in a technology that is reshaping business and society.
The next AI steps included more sophisticated analysis powered by Gemini — a technology unveiled five months ago — and smarter assistants, or “agents,” including a still-nascent version dubbed “Astra” that will be able to understand, explain and remember things it is shown through a smartphone’s camera lens. Google underscored its commitment to AI by bringing in Demis Hassabis, the executive who oversees the technology, to appear on stage at its marquee conference for the first time.
The injection of more AI into Google’s search engine marks one of the most dramatic changes that the company has made in its foundation since its inception in the late 1990s. It’s a move that opens the door for more growth and innovation but also threatens to trigger a sea change in web surfing habits.
“This bold and responsible approach is fundamental to delivering on our mission and making AI more helpful for everyone,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai told a group of reporters.
Run 3 Space | Play Space Running Game
Traffic Jam 3D | Online Racing Game
Duck Hunt | Play Old Classic Game
X CEO Linda Yaccarino posted a positive message Wednesday about her tenure at the company formerly known as Twitter and said the "best is yet to come."
Wildfires in parts of the western United States have forced evacuations at several national parks, including that of the Grand Canyon.
Nova Scotia’s provincial opposition parties are criticizing the government for continuing to keep a year-old report on environmental racism out of the public eye.
The Public Health Agency of Canada says 84 people have gotten sick since April, and there have now been nine hospitalizations.
The Siksika Nation says it's about more than just environmental concerns, saying development of the area would put its culture at risk.
United Nations officials warn that if the funding isn’t replaced, it could lead to more than four million AIDS-related deaths and six million more HIV infections by 2029.
Canada's Natural Resources Minister, Tim Hodgson, said that Ottawa has not been presented yet with any private sector plan to build a new oil pipeline to the west coast.
Out of the roughly 540 people with Fabry in Canada, the researcher says about 100 are in Nova Scotia.
A B.C. research and conservation group has crafted a new free course aimed at helping protect whales by educating boaters about laws and safety.
PHAC officials will continue to visit Oxaro's VISP offices “on short notice and in-person to ensure that performance standards are met,”a confidential source told Global News.
Two of the five coal companies, who were suing the province for $16 billion over its mining policy flip flop, have reached a settlement agreement with the province.
Jared Towers was in his research vessel on two separate occasions watching killer whales off the coast of Vancouver Island when the orcas dropped their prey directly in front of him and his colleagues.
A warming climate is driving a rise in Lyme disease and the introduction of lesser-known tick-borne diseases, public health specialists say.