Google's Search Engine Redesigns With 'AI Overviews' And A 'Web' Filter Because AI Is The Future

Google has a short but an extensive history, and that is because the trend in technology is evolving very fast.

When it was founded in 1996 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin as a research project at Stanford University called BackRub, the search engine was then renamed to Google, and incorporated in 1998.

The company rapidly expanded, launching AdWords in 2000, Gmail in 2004, developing Maps in 2005, acquiring Android in 2005, acquiring YouTube in 2006, and releasing the Chrome browser in 2008.

In 2015, Google restructured under the umbrella of Alphabet Inc., allowing for greater autonomy of its various ventures.

But when the world started seeing the vast possibilities of using large language model AI products, which include the development of generative AI tools, Google felt threatened.

It was a "code red" situation.

This is why the company has to reinvent itself, which led to a massive change to its core product: Google Search search engine.

Seeing the massive potential of generative AI, which started when OpenAI introduced ChatGPT, Google said that it believed AI was the future of search.

And that future is here.

Google starts rolling out 'AI Overviews,' previously known as the Search Generative Experience, or SGE.

Initially to users in the U.S., the feature delivers an AI-generated summary at the top of many of Google Search's search results.

It's meant to give users a general sense of the answer to their query, along with links to resources for more information. There’s also a new feature in Lens that lets users search by capturing a video.

And that’s only the beginning of how AI is changing search.

"What we see with generative AI is that Google can do more of the searching for you," says Liz Reid, Google's head of Search.

"It can take a bunch of the hard work out of searching, so you can focus on the parts you want to do to get things done, or on the parts of exploring that you find exciting."

At the company's 2024 annual I/O developer conference, Google said that it uses its Gemini AI to figure out what's what, like whether users are typing, speaking, taking a picture, or shooting a video.

Having seen a full-stack AI-ification of its products, Gemini finally makes it way to Google Search.

In summary, Google is shifting its focus, and begins its venture to become an AI-first company.

The second AI tool, is the 'Web' search filter.

In the digital world where images and videos have occupied more and more bandwidth and encompassing more and more information, the filter offers AI Overviews within its search results, where it only shows text-based links.

With it, users can filter for text links the way they can usually filter for images, video, news, or shopping.

According to Google, the Web filter shall appear either at the top of the results page or as part of the “More” option, depending on users' query.

"We’ve added this after hearing from some that there are times when they’d prefer to just see links to web pages in their search results, such as if they’re looking for longer-form text documents, using a device with limited internet access, or those who just prefer text-based results shown separately from search features," the post read.

"If you’re in that group, enjoy!"

Danny Sullivan, the Google Search Liaison, also shared his thought, based on his own experience.

Google also clarified that on mobile devices, the search engine shall default to showing the new Web filter alongside the other filters, without requiring users to go to the More menu. Meanwhile, on desktop, Google shall continue showing filters that seem most relevant to the search results.

Not every search needs this much AI, though, and not every search query is delivered by Gemini.

"If you just want to navigate to a URL, you search for Walmart and you want to get to walmart.com. It’s not really beneficial to add AI," said Reys.

Gemini is only helpful in more complex queries, like when users want to do a bunch of searches.

For example, she said, "we can do things like ‘Find the best yoga or pilates studio in Boston rated over four stars within a half-hour walk of Beacon Hill.'" Or maybe she continued, if users want details on which has the best offers for first-timers.

"And so you can get information that’s combined, across the Knowledge Graph and across the web, and pull it together."

In other words, Gemini here, is powering answers that can be sourced from a combination of the Knowledge Graph and Google's existing AI.

No company is so inseparable from the World Wide Web as Google, which made searching the internet an eponymous verb.

The web made Google rich, giving it an ubiquitous presence pretty much everyone fears.

But AI is affecting Google even more rapidly, and Google has no choice but to adapt to the trend.