Google is Bringing Generative AI Features To the Top of Search

Google announced today at its I/O conference today that its Bard chatbot was getting a big upgrade. However, Google Search, which remains the company’s oldest and most popular product, is also being upgraded with new generative AI features.

“With new generative AI capabilities in Search, we’re now taking more of the work out of searching, so you’ll be able to understand a topic faster, uncover new viewpoints and insights, and get things done more easily,” explained Elizabeth Reid, Vice President & GM of Google Search. In many ways, these new generative AI capabilities at the top of Google Search look a lot like what Microsoft did with its new AI-powered Bing.

When asking Google a question, users will see at the top of search results a colored block with key information about the topic and a couple of relevant web links. Users will also be able to ask follow-up questions and access a new conversational mode right from the search results page. When asking multiple questions, Google will be able to remember the context from previous prompts.

Google says that it designed this new “Search Generative Experience” to “highlight and drive attention to content on the web,” meaning that the company will make sure that web publishers won’t be suffering from a traffic drop. Google will also continue to display ads in this new Search Generative Experience, which will also be able to help users do their shopping across the web.

This new Search Generative Experience will be launching as a limited preview on Chrome desktop and the Google mobile app in the US in the coming weeks. You’ll need to sign up for the Search Labs waitlist to get early access to it.