Google Expands AI-Generated Search Queries To New Countries

Google has announced that it will be rolling out AI-generated summaries in six more countries. This expansion comes two months after the feature was first introduced, though its initial launch faced several issues.

AI Overviews, the feature that Google adds to the top of search results, was initially made available to U.S. users in May. However, the rollout was marred by inaccurate responses.

On social media, users shared erroneous answers from Google's AI Overviews. One example included glue as an ingredient for pizza, while another falsely claimed that President Barack Obama is a Muslim.

The search engine giant acknowledged the mistakes and took steps to address the issues. In May, Google announced updates via a blog post. According to the post, the improvements focused on tightening restrictions, limiting sources to reliable websites, and filtering out content from platforms like Reddit, where information is largely user-generated.

Reuters reported that Google's Senior Director of Product, Hema Budaraju, revealed on Wednesday that internal data shows improvements in the feature's accuracy. She noted that users with access to AI Overviews reported higher satisfaction levels and tended to search for longer queries.

The six countries where AI Overviews will now be available are Brazil, Britain, India, Indonesia, Japan, and Mexico, with support for local languages included.

Additionally, Google is introducing hyperlinks, with the associated websites displayed on the right side of the AI-generated response. The company is also testing another update that will embed links directly within the text, according to US News.

The media industry has raised concerns about losing referral traffic as users may be less inclined to click through to publishers' websites. However, Budaraju emphasized that the AI update is designed to benefit Google, publishers, and consumers alike.