Google's latest AI adventure is a new option for search. Google is a new way to organize your search results based on analysis using a dedicated version of Gemini Artificial Intelligence Tool. The announcement claims are that AI could help surface the most relevant content, but it is also a new way for Google to control which websites get the key bills in the results.
In a graphics shared alongside a blog post that published the search lab experiment, the company showed the cluster of results in the question “How to travel in Japan.” The web guides display several hits each under various headers, including “Comprehensive Guide to Solo Travel in Japan”, “Personal Experiences and Tips from Solo Travelers”, and “Safety and Destination Recommendations”, and have the option to reveal details of each group. It appears to provide some AI-generated summary at the top of each heading, but at least in this example, there are fewer examples of copying/pasting wholesale words from other publications.
The web guide has some similarities to Google's guide, and loops the artificial intelligence tighter than the search experience. The existence of AI modes for all US users has already prompted protests from publishers. The News/Media Alliance called it “.” The Pew Research Center recently confirmed that the presence of AI summary at the top of the search results in fewer people clicking to read published content from the source. A survey of 900 adults who shared their browsing history revealed that 15% of users who did not see an AI summary were clicked in search results and 16% had finished their browsing session. In the contract, only 8% of users who saw the AI summary clicked the link in the search results, and 26% ended their browsing session. And while Google is working to improve its accuracy, never forget what AI-drawn summaries once gave us.
It's too early to know if a web guide would encourage more people to actually visit and support non-Google sites. For now, it is only available to Opted-In users in the web tab for searching, but it will appear anywhere else on the line. Given that Google is already in legal kennels for action in the search business, it should be interesting to see how this latest AI rollout is going.
