Google Introduces Chat AI Into Its Search Engine, Its Biggest Upgrade In Years

Google’s I/O 2023 event introduced a slew of upgrades and products for the coming year. One of the more exciting features is the introduction of artificial intelligence to its search engine, the biggest upgrade to its site in years. 
 
The tech company calls this the Search Generative Experience (SGE), and it is a chatbot that can supposedly answer questions like a human would. It is integrated directly into the search bar on Google, and you can ask it anything just as you usually would.

Only this time, aside from links directing you to other web pages with the results you’re looking for, there will be a colorful pop-up box with an AI answer. This usually comprises a written paragraph that has compiled its search for you without the need to go to different web pages to scour for what you’re looking for. Of course, there will also be additional links and advertisements, depending on what you’re looking for.

Video via Google
 
If this sounds like something you could get Bard—Google’s answer to ChatGPT—to do, you would not be wrong in thinking so. However, SGE is marketed as separate from the AI writing system and is meant to enhance and change how you look up information. However, it remains to be seen how it will routinely change how people interact with the search engine.
 
A report from The Washington Post noted that after Microsoft and OpenAI came together to integrate ChatGPT into Bing, traffic levels soared momentarily before dropping to where it was last year.

It also mentioned some caveats with the system. That is, it can be slower to pop up results than the typical search pages, and it can sometimes give the wrong answer. For example, an experiment asked it to produce a chocolate chip cookie recipe. However, instead of just giving a link to the best one on the internet, it came up with its own concoction and, interestingly enough, forgot one key component: chocolate chips. 
 
SGE will start rolling out in the coming weeks, and signups to use the feature have already begun.

 
[via Reuters and The Washington Post, images via various sources]