Google is rolling out its AI Overview feature in Canada. It uses AI to summarize info scraped from the web and answer users' search queries, featuring them above the search results.
Catch-up: AI Overview made headlines this year for its alarmingly incorrect results. Some were silly (like claiming a dog had played in the NBA), while others were outright dangerous (like telling pregnant women to smoke). Google said in May it had taken steps to fix things up.
- Google claims it’s received positive feedback from users and seen higher traffic to sites included in AI Overview. It also gives Google another place to force-feed ads.
Yes, but: It appears that some kinks are yet to be worked out. In June, The Verge found AI Overview was still telling people to put glue on pizza, and last week, an Ars Technica report claimed it was among a slew of AI products perpetuating white supremacist race science.
Why it matters: Big Tech has decided that AI is the future of search. It’s a move that could create a better user experience — a study last year found 65.3% of searchers preferred the websites ChatGPT provided to ones Google did — but it won’t come without growing pains.—QH