On May 10th, 2023, Google shared its latest advancements in AI, including a new way to search on the Google search engine. Known as a search generative experience, or SGE, this update to Google Search will “supercharge” your searches.
According to Google, SGE uses “generative AI” to answer user search queries. But what is generative AI?
Generative AI is defined as a “set of algorithms” that can generate seemingly new content from the data on which it has been trained. In other words, the AI is trained with existing content or data, and this is used to develop relevant responses to user queries.
You might be familiar with some of the more popular generative AI models, like ChatGPT or DALL-E 2. Both of these are foundation models trained on enormous quantities of data, a knowledge base they use to develop responses to queries, such as text summations or image creations.
In much the same way, Google’s SGE will use its large data bank to generate more insightful answers to searches.
Searching on Google today typically takes a bit of… well, searching, and the more complex the question, the more you have to hunt for an answer. For example, you might want to plan a hike with some friends. “Hiking trails near me” would certainly be a good starting search, but what if you also need to make sure the trail you choose is a certain level of difficulty? And what if you want to make sure it’s completed in a certain amount of time? And even after you’ve narrowed it down to a handful of trails, you’ll have to check which ones are open on the day and time you plan to go hiking.
The real query you’re seeking answers to is, “easier hiking trails near me under two hours, that are open on Friday evenings”. Today, such a specific query may not garner a lot of results. You’ll probably have to break up your question into parts, slowly narrowing down the hiking trails until you find what you’re looking for. But with Search powered by generative AI, a lot of this “heavy lifting” can be done for you. Indeed, the hyper-specific query at the start of this paragraph would be just the sort of query a search engine powered by generative AI could answer.
As previously mentioned, a lot of the leg work is taken out of Search with generative AI, because it can essentially compile all the relevant information it has into one, coherent answer. If you have a super specific or multi-step question, Google’s SGE will make the discovery process much easier.
Beyond just regular searches, generative AI will also help users find products that fit their specific needs, something that will be especially important to B2B businesses. The AI shopping experience is built on Google’s database of over 35 billion product listings, which makes it well-equipped to inform shoppers looking to make complex purchasing decisions.
SGE is still in the testing phase, but you can sign up to test the update before it rolls out to the rest of Google’s users. You can provide Google with feedback that the company can use to optimize its SGE over time.
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