Google’s latest update will introduce AI-generated answers to online queries made by users in the United States, marking one of the most significant changes to its search engine in 25 years.
Sundar Pichai, Google’s chief executive, made the announcement during an event in California on Tuesday, May 14. The revamped experience, called “AI overviews,” will feature at the top of search results pages, providing concise summaries generated by Google’s Gemini technology.
These summaries will include links to the online sources that contributed the information. According to Liz Reid, the head of Google Search, users can now ask a wide range of questions and tasks, and Google will handle the research.
The move comes as Google faces competition from AI-powered search engines like Perplexity and amid rumors of OpenAI developing its own AI search tool. Similar AI-powered searches have also appeared on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
Pichai noted that the update will soon roll out to other countries, expanding its accessibility to over a billion people worldwide.