Google is upgrading its search engine with more artificial intelligence (AI), allowing users to ask questions about images using their voice. This new feature will sometimes also organize search results automatically, aiming to make searching quicker and more intuitive.
What’s Changing?
The latest update lets people use voice commands to ask questions about images they’re viewing and organize search results into categories. This is part of Google’s push to make searching easier. Previously, Google launched “AI Overviews” in May, which provides a quick summary of search results at the top of the page. However, some publishers worried these summaries would reduce clicks to their websites, affecting traffic and ad revenue.
To address this, Google is now adding more links to other websites within its AI-generated summaries. While general news sites like The New York Times have seen less traffic, niche sites like Bloomberg.com are benefiting from increased visits, according to research by BrightEdge.
Google’s AI Expansion
This update shows Google’s commitment to AI, which plays a major role in its search engine. The new features build on the existing Google Lens tool, which allows users to search using photos. Lens now handles over 20 billion image-based searches each month and is particularly popular with younger users aged 18 to 24.
In addition to image searches, people in Google’s testing program will soon be able to ask questions about videos. For example, they could film fish in an aquarium and get answers about them from Google’s AI.
AI’s Challenges in Search
While AI can make search easier, it doesn’t always provide accurate information. Google has had issues with its AI giving incorrect advice, such as suggesting people eat rocks. Google blames these errors on bad data and users deliberately trying to mislead the AI. However, the company believes it has fixed these problems and is ready to rely more on AI to decide what information to show.
For now, AI will help organize search results for specific queries, like recipes or meal ideas, grouping them into clusters of images, videos, and articles.
Simplifying Search
Google’s goal is to make searching easier for everyone, no matter what device they’re using. The company believes that with AI, search will become more convenient, helping users get answers faster.
This update shows Google’s strong focus on AI as it competes with other AI-driven tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity.
