Google launches one of its ‘most significant updates ever’ to add AI to search results

The Google search engine is further integrating AI (Getty)

Google is making some of its biggest ever changes, to add more artificial intelligence to its search engine.

The company will now let people search with videos, ask questions with their voice while also searching with pictures, and identify songs. The company will also reorganise search results, adding new ways of shopping and organising search results with the help of AI.

Google will also change the way that it presents its “AI Overviews” feature, which has rolled out in recent months. That is supposed to use artificial intelligence to answer users’ queries – but has run into a series of problems, including encouraging users to eat rocks and glue.

Now, those overviews will include more links to web pages in an attempt to give more context on queries.

Some of those tools will also work together. Google confirmed it would begin rolling out a similar tool to ask questions while recording a video to early testers on its Search Labs programme, saying its AI tools would be able to “make sense of the video and your question put together” before producing an AI Overview, showing an AI answer as well as helpful resources from the web.

The updates continue the ongoing arms race between the world’s biggest tech firms to introduce new and compelling generative AI-powered tools to keep existing users engaged, as well as to draw in new ones.

On Wednesday, OpenAI, the firm behind generative AI chatbot ChatGPT confirmed its latest funding round had raised 6.6 billion US dollars (£4.97 billion) - the largest ever - and valuing the company at more than 150 billion dollars (£112 billion), a sign that the frenzy around AI remains.

In its update, Google also said it would begin rolling out new, AI-organised search results pages, starting in the United States, and beginning with recipes and meal inspiration-related searches on mobile.

Google said: “You’ll now see a full-page experience, with relevant results organised just for you. You can easily explore content and perspectives from across the web including articles, videos, forums and more - all in one place.”

Google said that in testing of the new changes to AI Overviews, it had seen this “improved experience” had “driven an increase in traffic to supporting websites compared to the previous design”.

Some critics had previously suggested that placing AI Overviews above listed search results could have an impact on publishers and advertisers, who could see clicks through to their webpages drop if they were moved further down the page.

Google said it had found that the addition of links within Overviews meant “people are finding it easier to visit sites that interest them”.

In a further move to help businesses who use Google Search, the tech giant also confirmed that it was introducing ads within AI Overviews, starting in the US on mobile.

Additional reporting by agencies