Generative AI in Search: Let Google do the searching for you

May 14, 2024

5 min read

With expanded AI Overviews, more planning and research capabilities, and AI-organized search results, our custom Gemini model can take the legwork out of searching.

Liz Reid

VP, Head of Google Search

Google Search on a mobile device, with an AI Overview being generated at the top of the page

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Over the past 25 years, across many technological shifts, we’ve continued to reimagine and expand what Google Search can do. We’ve meticulously honed our core information quality systems to help you find the best of what’s on the web. And we’ve built a knowledge base of billions of facts about people, places and things — all so you can get information you can trust in the blink of an eye.

Now, with generative AI, Search can do more than you ever imagined. So you can ask whatever’s on your mind or whatever you need to get done — from researching to planning to brainstorming — and Google will take care of the legwork.

This is all made possible by a new Gemini model customized for Google Search. It brings together Gemini’s advanced capabilities — including multi-step reasoning, planning and multimodality — with our best-in-class Search systems.

Get quick answers with AI Overviews

Sometimes you want a quick answer, but you don’t have time to piece together all the information you need. Search will do the work for you with AI Overviews.

People have already used AI Overviews billions of times through our experiment in Search Labs. They like that they can get both a quick overview of a topic and links to learn more. We’ve found that with AI Overviews, people use Search more, and are more satisfied with their results.

So today, AI Overviews will begin rolling out to everyone in the U.S., with more countries coming soon. That means that this week, hundreds of millions of users will have access to AI Overviews, and we expect to bring them to over a billion people by the end of the year.

A demo of the user experience of AI Overviews on a mobile device, showing results for a search query about how to clean a fabric sofa.

With AI Overviews, people are visiting a greater diversity of websites for help with more complex questions. And we see that the links included in AI Overviews get more clicks than if the page had appeared as a traditional web listing for that query. As we expand this experience, we’ll continue to focus on sending valuable traffic to publishers and creators. As always, ads will continue to appear in dedicated slots throughout the page, with clear labeling to distinguish between organic and sponsored results.

Adjust your AI Overview

Soon, you’ll be able to adjust your AI Overview with options to simplify the language or break it down in more detail. This can be particularly useful if you’re new to a topic, or if you’re trying to simplify something to satisfy your kid’s curiosity.

On desktop, a user searches: “explain the connection between lightning and thunder.” Within the AI Overview section, there are three options: Original, Simpler, and Break It Down. The animation shows the user experience for each of the three options.

This update is coming soon to Search Labs, for English queries in the U.S.

Ask your most complex questions

With our custom Gemini model’s multi-step reasoning capabilities, AI Overviews will help with increasingly complex questions. Rather than breaking your question into multiple searches, you can ask your most complex questions, with all the nuances and caveats you have in mind, all in one go.

For example, maybe you’re looking for a new yoga or pilates studio, and you want one that’s popular with locals, conveniently located for your commute, and also offers a discount for new members. Soon, with just one search, you’ll be able to ask something like “find the best yoga or pilates studios in Boston and show me details on their intro offers, and walking time from Beacon Hill.”

An animation that demonstrates Gemini’s multi-step reasoning capabilities, shown on mobile. A user asks for the best yoga or pilates studios in Boston, with details on their intro offers and walking time from Beacon Hill. The AI Overview returns four yoga and pilates studios in Boston rated over 4.1 stars within a half-hour walk of Beacon Hill, plus their locations on a map.

These multi-step reasoning capabilities are coming soon to AI Overviews in Search Labs, for English queries in the U.S.

Plan ahead

Beyond finding the right answer or information for a complex question, Search will also be able to plan with you.

With planning capabilities directly in Search, you can get help creating plans for whatever you need, starting with meals and vacations. Search for something like “create a 3 day meal plan for a group that’s easy to prepare,” and you’ll get a starting point with a wide range of recipes from across the web.

On desktop, a user enters the search query: “Create a 3 day meal plan for a group that is easy to prepare.” The AI Overview shows results broken apart by day; within each day are recipe cards linking out to cooking sites. The user replaces recipes they don’t want.

If you want to change anything, you can easily ask for whatever adjustments you need, like swapping dinner to a vegetarian dish. Just like that, Search will customize your meal plan. You’ll be able to quickly export your meal plan to Docs or Gmail.

Meal and trip planning are available now in Search Labs in English in the U.S. Later this year, we’ll add customization capabilities and more categories like parties, date night and workouts.

Explore an AI-organized results page

When you’re looking for fresh ideas, it can take a lot of work to find inspiration and consider all your options. Soon, when you’re looking for ideas, Search will use generative AI to brainstorm with you and create an AI-organized results page that makes it easy to explore.

You’ll see helpful results categorized under unique, AI-generated headlines, featuring a wide range of perspectives and content types.

On mobile, a user searches “anniversary celebration dinner places Dallas.” Results appear sorted into various categories, including Anniversary-worthy restaurants, Celebratory Dallas restaurants; Live music and intimate settings; Romantic steakhouses; Critic picks for special occasions; and more.

For English searches in the U.S., you’ll start to see this new AI-organized search results page when you look for inspiration — starting soon with dining and recipes, followed by movies, music, books, hotels, shopping and more.

Take a video, get help from AI

Search is so much more than just words in a text box. Often the questions you have are about the things you see around you, including objects in motion.

Thanks to advancements in video understanding, we’re able to take visual search to a whole new level, with the ability to ask questions with video.

Maybe you bought a record player at a thrift shop, but it’s not working when you turn it on and the metal piece with the needle is drifting unexpectedly. Searching with video saves you the time and trouble of finding the right words to describe this issue, and you’ll get an AI Overview with steps and resources to troubleshoot.

On mobile, a person uses Search with video to ask for help with a malfunctioning record player — the video shows the problem, and the person asks their question out loud. In response, the AI Overview provides a list of tips to solve the problem, links out to related stories, and additional information.

Searching with video will be available soon for Search Labs users in English in the U.S., and we’ll expand to more regions over time.

This is just a glimpse of how we’re reimagining Google Search — combining the very best of Search today with the Gemini model’s advanced capabilities. Soon, Google will do the searching, simplifying, researching, planning, brainstorming and so much more.