Google now shows AI-generated texts in response to your questions
Google is now also providing AI-generated texts in its search results in Europe. The texts are intended to help you get an initial overview of the topic.
You ask an AI chatbot a question and it offers you more or less helpful information in response. If you're involved with AI assistants, you're probably familiar with this. Last year, Google announced that it would be integrating its AI language model Gemini into Google Search. The new function was initially only available in the USA.
Google is now also bringing the so-called "Overview with AI" to European countries, including Germany and Switzerland. You can see the AI-generated answers in Google Search if you are logged in with your Google account and are over 18 years old. The function appears to have already been rolled out widely.
What does "Overview with AI" do?
Google's business model as a search engine is based on delivering the websites that most accurately answer your query as search results. "Overview with AI" goes one step further and simply provides the answer itself. The function generates an AI text that highlights important aspects of the requested topic.
The AI text appears below the adverts and above the normal search results. Further sources - i.e. websites defined as relevant - are linked in the text.
Source: Debora Pape
When does Google show the "Overview with AI"?
According to Google, the AI overview will appear when "our systems determine that it is the most helpful answer". This is a challenge to website operators, who generally try to provide helpful information themselves in order to be placed as high up as possible in Google's search results.
In any case, it is not entirely clear when an AI overview appears and when it does not. In my first tests, the overview appeared, as can be seen above, for a Google search posed as a question ("Why do plants have yellow leaves?"). The query "plant yellow leaves", on the other hand, did not produce an AI overview. Perhaps Gemini was unable to recognise the context: Does the query mean plant genera with yellow leaves or diseased plants?
The query "measure breathing rate of cat", also formulated in keywords, has a clear medical context. Accordingly, Google provided me with helpful information via an AI overview on how to measure the respiratory rate, what a normal rate is and when I should consult a vet. Six further websites were provided - which essentially corresponded to the top search results under the AI overview.
Have you seen Google's AI overview and what do you think of the answers?
Header image: Kim Muntinga
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