GOOGLE AI IN EVERYTHING
GOOGLE USES ITS annual I/O event to set out its plans, and this year the theme was simple: whatever the product, it was about how AI can improve it. Like it or lump it, you’ll be interacting with Gemini, Google’s brand for its LLM AI engine. There are dozens of interconnected AI initiatives covering images, Gmail, and even Workspace. The most obvious change is to Google search, which is shifting to being a “search generative experience”, dubbed AI Overviews. This replaces hard links with an AI-generated summary. Depending on the query, it can return a completely AI-supplied reply. Not everybody is happy about this. The results are far from infallible, and cite precious few original sources. It isn’t easy to disable, either. However, if you use the Web Search as the default, you can return to a simpler time. Google has been talking about AI for years, but in the last few months, actual application on a large scale has started. It’s all going to get pretty interesting, pretty fast.