Google expands AI integration in search engine, Enhances image ,voice queries
Google is further integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into its search engine, introducing features that allow users to ask voice-based questions about images and organize search results more effectively. These changes, announced on Thursday, represent the latest phase in Google’s AI-driven transformation, which began in May when the company introduced AI-generated summaries, or "AI Overviews," to its search results.
The introduction of these AI Overviews raised concerns among publishers, as fewer users were clicking on search links, reducing traffic to news websites like The New York Times and technology review platforms such as TomsGuide.com. However, Google has responded by incorporating more external links into these overviews, addressing worries that AI-driven summaries were diverting attention from important web content. A recent study by BrightEdge, a search traffic analysis firm, revealed that while general news publishers were losing traffic, specialized sites like Bloomberg.com and the National Institutes of Health saw an increase in visits through these AI-generated links.
A key part of Google's AI evolution builds upon its existing Lens feature, which allows users to search for objects in images. The Lens option now processes over 20 billion queries per month and is particularly popular among users aged 18 to 24, a demographic Google is keen to engage. With the latest update, users will be able to ask conversational questions in English about images viewed through a camera lens and receive search results. In addition, those enrolled in Google Labs can now test voice-activated features, enabling them to capture videos of moving objects—such as fish in an aquarium—and ask questions, receiving answers through AI Overviews.
Initially, Google’s AI will be used to organize search results for recipe and meal-related queries in English, grouping information into clusters of images, videos, and articles. The company hopes that this new feature will offer a more streamlined and intuitive search experience, even as it continues to fine-tune its AI’s accuracy and reliability.
Google’s decision to enhance its flagship search engine with more AI capabilities highlights the company’s commitment to the technology, as it navigates a major industry shift driven by AI innovations. This move positions Google to compete with emerging AI-powered alternatives like ChatGPT and Perplexity, which offer more conversational search experiences.
Google’s Vice President of Search Engineering, Rajan Patel, emphasized the company’s goal to make search simpler and more accessible. “The whole goal is to make search effortless for people, so they can search any way, anywhere they are,” Patel explained, noting that the AI features aim to enhance user convenience.
Despite the promise of AI-driven convenience, the technology has faced criticism for occasional inaccuracies. Google's AI Overviews have produced some notable errors, including advising users to put glue on pizza and eat rocks. These incidents were attributed to data gaps and online interference. However, Google asserts that it has resolved many of these issues and is now confident in using AI to curate information on its search results page.
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'MCC-Modi's Code of Campaigning': Cong's dig at EC
New Delhi (PTI): Ahead of the assembly polls schedule announcement by the Election Commission, the Congress on Sunday took a swipe, saying since 2014 the MCC has come to stand for "Modi's Code of Campaigning which will be full of defamation, abuses, intimidation, fear-mongering, and spreading the virus of lies."
The opposition party also claimed that the poll schedule announcement "would have been given the go-ahead by the G2, since G1 would have completed this round of inaugurations, ribbon-cuttings, flag-offs, and launches".
The Congress frequently uses the term 'G2' to take swipes at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, who are both from Gujarat.
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In a post on X, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "The Election Commission will announce the schedule for the 2026 assembly elections at 4 PM today. It would have been given the go-ahead by the G2, since G1 would have completed this round of inaugurations, ribbon-cuttings, flag-offs, and launches."
"The Election Commission's Model Code of Conduct (MCC) will soon come into effect. But since 2014 this has come to stand for Modi's Code of Campaigning which will be full of defamation, abuses, intimidation, fear-mongering, and spreading the virus of lies," Ramesh said.
The MCC is a set of conventions agreed upon by all stakeholders during the elections. Its objective is to keep campaigning, polling and counting orderly, clean and peaceful and check any abuse of state machinery and finances by the party in power.
The Election Commission will announce dates for assembly polls in Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and Puducherry on Sunday evening.
The terms of these legislative assemblies are ending on different dates in May and June.
Final electoral rolls of the four states and the Union territory of Puducherry have been published as part of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voters' list.
