Dread it. Run from it. Google’s AI will arrive all the same. And now it’s here. The search giant has, perhaps unsurprisingly, retrofitted Google Search with artificially intelligent results, generating a summary of your search and essentially bypassing the traditional trove of links you’d normally find up top. Ads on the other hand…
This isn’t exactly new. Google first announced what it calls the Search Generative Experience (SGE) in 2023 offering exactly what we’re describing — AI-powered Search results. The only difference? SGE is no longer an opt-in-only sort of deal. It’s more of a ‘if you want to keep using Search then you have to put up with this’ deal.
A new era for Search
Aptly named Search Engine Land was the first to pick up on the change, which is only limited to a small group of users in the US for now. The Google train moves fast, after all. Before long, it’ll be rolling out globally — South Africa included. And honestly, we’re not all that fussed about the decision. If anything, we welcome it.
See, Google won’t be injecting itself into every search that crosses your mind. According to SGE’s announcement from May 2023, it will limit “the types of queries where these capabilities will appear.” Specifically, it will only come into play if it feels its presence would be “truly additive” to the experience according to a spokesperson.
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When you’re looking up “how to cook mac ‘n cheese”, AI can get involved saving you from the hundreds of thousands of recipes in Search all vying for your attention with some sob story about how their love of cheese came from their Grandmother. It has the potential to be a real game-changer, massively improving the speed at which we access information.
As transformative as the change could be, it does beg the question: who’s losing out in all this? If Google’s AI is deciding what is “truly additive” to a result, how long before it feels the need to step in every time — all while pulling away valuable traffic from websites? Websites that offer up the very information Google is cribbing.