Google Search Adds Generative AI Preview

Google announced today that it is offering experimental access to generative AI capabilities in Search to those with a personal Gmail account.

“Today, we’re starting to open up access to Search Labs, a new program to access early experiments from Google,” a new post to Google’s The Keyword blog notes. “Once you’re in, the new generative AI-powered Search experience will help you take some of the work out of searching, so you can understand a topic faster, uncover new viewpoints and insights, and get things done more easily. So instead of asking a series of questions and piecing together that information yourself, Search now can do some of that heavy lifting for you.”

To gain access to the new features, you need to sign up for the waitlist on the Search Labs site first, and then Google will email you to let you know that you’re in. You can opt-in to Search and other Labs experiments via the Google mobile app or Chrome for Windows, Mac, or Linux.

The following generative AI experiments are now available for Search:

Learn more. If you’re trying to learn something complicated that will require a lot of time—like learning a musical instrument or starting your own business—Search can help you break it down into smaller parts and provide an “AI-powered snapshot” of all of the factors you need to consider. From there, you can dive deeper into individual steps with links to articles.

Answer a specific question. In what has to be one of the most common uses for Google Search today, this lab will answer very specific questions—“How to get an old coffee stain out of a wool sweater?”—concisely with pointers and a range of options.

Research and compare products. When you search for a product or service, Search can provide a list of factors to consider in your decision-making process and make recommendations based on review scores, price, and application. You can also ask follow-up questions to hone the search further.

Google says that this is just a first step, and that it will add more updates and improvements over time.