Google's logo is displayed outside their Bay View facilities during the Made by Google event in Mountain View, California, on August 13, 2024. Reuters
On August 15, Google announced a major update: its AI-generated search summaries, known as AI Overviews, are expanding to six new countries. This move comes just two months after the company had to scale back the feature due to a rocky launch marred by issues like incorrect information.
The AI Overviews feature, which was first rolled out to U.S. users in May, provides users with AI-generated summaries at the top of search results pages before showing traditional website links. This tool was in the testing phase for a year before its full release, but it faced significant backlash. Users discovered errors in the summaries, such as a pizza recipe that mistakenly included glue and an inaccurate claim about former President Barack Obama’s religion.
In response to these issues, Google made several updates. They improved the feature by placing limits on the types of queries that would show AI-generated answers and removed user-generated content from forums like Reddit as sources for these answers. Hema Budaraju, a senior director of products at Google, shared that the company’s internal data showed that these updates have significantly improved the quality of AI Overviews. Users who had access to the updated feature reported higher satisfaction and engaged with more complex queries compared to those without it.
Now, AI Overviews are being introduced to Brazil, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, and Britain, and will be available in local languages such as Hindi and Portuguese. Additionally, Google is adding hyperlinks to the AI summaries. Websites will be shown on the right side of the AI answers, and the company is testing another update that will include links directly within the text of the overviews.
These updates come amid concerns from the media industry about potential loss of referral traffic. Publishers worry that AI Overviews might reduce the number of users clicking through to their sites. Budaraju, however, believes the new features will benefit Google, users, and publishers alike. She stated that the changes aim to balance the interests of all parties involved.
The announcement also follows a recent legal development. A U.S. judge ruled that Google holds an illegal monopoly on search, which may lead to a trial that could potentially break up Alphabet, Google’s parent company. Meanwhile, advancements in AI by competitors, such as OpenAI backed by Microsoft, pose additional challenges for Google.
