Google announced on Thursday that it is “taking another big leap forward” with an expansive round of AI-empowered updates for Google Search and AI Overview.
Earlier in the year, Google incorporated generative AI technology into its existing Lens app, which allows users to identify objects within a photograph and search the web for more information on them, so that the app will return an AI Overview based on what it sees rather than a list of potentially relevant websites. At the I/O conference in May, Google promised to expand that capability to video clips.
With Thursday’s update, “you can use Lens to search by taking a video, and asking questions about the moving objects that you see,” Google’s announcement reads. The company suggests that the app could be used to, for example, provide personalized information about specific fish at an aquarium simply by taking a video and asking your question.
Whether this works on more complex subjects like analyzing your favorite NFL team’s previous play or fast-moving objects like identifying makes and models of cars in traffic, remains to be seen. If you want to try the feature for yourself, it’s available globally (though only in English) through the iOS and Android Google App. Navigate to the Search Lab and enroll in the “AI Overviews and more” experiment to get access.
You won’t necessarily have to type out your question either. Lens now supports voice questions, which allows you to simply speak your query as you take a picture (or capture a video clip) rather than fumbling across your touchscreen in a dimly lit room.
Your Lens-based shopping experience is also being updated. In addition to the links to visually similar products from retailers that Lens already provides, it will begin displaying “dramatically more helpful results,” per the announcement. Those include reviews of the specific product you’re looking at, price comparisons from across the web, and information on where to buy the item.
Circle to Search can now find music for you, as counter-intuitive as that may seem. Basically, if you scroll past a music video on social media that you want more information on, you can now swipe a circle atop it and Lens will search the web for more information about the track, saving you the trouble of having to remember the name of the band.
The search results page itself is also undergoing renovations. Google has begun using AI to organize its search results, which the company claims “helps you easily explore content and perspectives from across the web including articles, videos, forums and more.” What’s more, Google has begun incorporating paid ads into its AI Overviews on mobile devices.
Finally, Google is working on a new design for its AI Overview feature to display “prominent links” directly within the overview text that point back to the supporting webpage. The company says that doing so has driven additional traffic to the websites it scrapes for AI content and made it easier for people to visit sites of interest. Google will begin rolling out the new Overview design globally starting today.
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