Google unleashes ‘AI Mode' in the next phase of its journey to change search
The next phase outlined at Google's annual developers conference includes releasing a new "AI mode' option in the United States. The feature makes interacting with Google's search engine more like having a conversation with an expert capable of answering questions on just about any topic imaginable.
AI mode is being offered to all comers in the U.S. just two-and-a-half-months after the company began testing with a limited Labs division audience.
Google is also feeding its latest AI model, Gemini 2.5, into its search algorithms and will soon begin testing other AI features, such as the ability to automatically buy concert tickets and conduct searches through live video feeds.
In another example of Google's all-in approach to AI, the company revealed it is planning to leverage the technology to re-enter the smart glasses market with a new pair of Android XR-powered spectacles. The preview of the forthcoming device, which includes a hands-free camera and a voice-powered AI assistant, comes 13 years after the debut of "Google Glass,' a product that the company scrapped after a public backlash over privacy concerns.
Google didn't say when its Android XR glasses will be available or how much they will cost, but disclosed they will be designed in partnership with Gentle Monster and Warby Parker. The glasses will compete against a similar product already on the market from Facebook parent Meta Platforms and Ray-Ban.
The expansion builds upon a transformation that Google began a year ago with the introduction of conversational summaries called "AI overviews' that have been increasingly appearing at the top of its results page and eclipsing its traditional rankings of web links.
About 1.5 billion people now regularly engage with "AI overviews,' according to Google, and most users are now entering longer and more complex queries.
"What all this progress means is that we are in a new phase of the AI platform shift, where decades of research are now becoming reality for people all over the world," Google CEO Sundar Pichai said before a packed crowd in an amphitheater near the company's Mountain View, California, headquarters.
Although Pichai and other Google executives predicted AI overviews would trigger more searches and ultimately more clicks to other sites, it hasn't worked out that way so far, according to the findings of search optimization firm BrightEdge.
Clickthrough rates from Google's search results have declined by nearly 30% during the past year, according to BrightEdge's recently released study, which attributed the decrease to people becoming increasingly satisfied with AI overviews.
The decision to make AI mode broadly available after a relatively short test period reflects Google's confidence that the technology won't habitually spew misinformation that tarnishes its brand's reputation, and acknowledges the growing competition from other AI-powered search options from the likes of ChatGPT and Perplexity.
The rapid rise of AI alternatives emerged as a recurring theme in legal proceedings that could force Google to dismantle parts of its internet empire after a federal judge last year declared its search engine to be an illegal monopoly.
In testimony during a trial earlier this month, longtime Apple executive Eddy Cue said Google searches done through the iPhone maker's Safari browser have been declining because more people are leaning on AI-powered alternatives.
And Google has cited the upheaval being caused by AI's rise as one of the main reasons that it should only be required to make relatively minor changes to the way it operates its search engine because technology already is changing the competitive landscape.
But Google's reliance on more AI so far appears to be enabling its search engine to maintain its mantle as the internet's main gateway - a position that's main reason its corporate parent, Alphabet Inc., boasts a market value of $2 trillion.
During the year ending in March, Google received 136 billion monthly visits, 34 times more than ChatGPT's average of 4 billion monthly visits, according to data compiled by onelittleweb.com.
Even Google's own AI mode acknowledged that the company's search engine seems unlikely to be significantly hurt by the shift to AI technology when a reporter from The Associated Press asked whether its introduction would make the company even more powerful.
"Yes, it is highly likely that Google's AI mode will make Google more powerful, particularly in the realm of information access and online influence,' the AI mode responded. The feature also warns that web publishers should be concerned about AI mode reducing the traffic they get from search results.
Google's upcoming tests in its Labs division foreshadow the next wave of AI technology likely to be made available to the masses.
Besides using its Project Mariner technology to test the ability of an AI agent to buy tickets and book restaurant reservations, Google will also experiment with searches done through live video and an opt-in option to give its AI technology access to people's Gmail and other Google apps so it can learn more about a user's tastes and habits. Other features on this summer's test list include a "Deep Search' option that will use AI to dig even deeper into complex topics and another tool that will produce graphical presentations of sports and finance data.
Google is also introducing its equivalent of a VIP pass to all its AI technology with an "Ultra' subscription package that will cost $250 per month and include 30 terabytes of storage, too. That's a big step beyond Google's previous top-of-the-line package, which is now called "AI "Pro,' that costs $20 per month and includes two terabytes of storage. --
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab Times
a day ago
- Arab Times
Asian shares mixed after days of gains driven by hopes for US rate cuts
MANILA, Philippines, Aug 14, (AP): Asian shares were mixed on Thursday after days of gains driven by hopes for lower US interest rates, while US futures slipped. Bitcoin rose more than 3% to a new record of over $123,000, according to CoinDesk. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 fell 1.3% to 42,705.36 as investors sold to lock in recent gains that have taken the benchmark to all-time records. The Japanese yen rose against the dollar after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview with Bloomberg that Japan was "behind the curve' in monetary tightening. He was referring to the slow pace of increases in Japan's near-zero interest rates. Low interest rates tend to make the yen weaker against the dollar, giving Japanese exporters a cost advantage in overseas sales. The dollar fell to 146.31 Japanese yen early Thursday, down from 147.39 yen. The euro fell to $1.1703 from $1.1705. In Chinese markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index shed less than 0.2% to 25,655.26, while the Shanghai composite index added 0.1% to 3,686.07. South Korea's Kospi fell less than 0.1% to 3,222.99, while Australia's S&P ASX 200 index added 0.5% to 8,866.70. Taiwan's TAIEX fell 0.5%, while India's Sensex edged 0.1% higher. "Asian markets opened today like a party that ran out of champagne before midnight - the music still playing, but the dance floor thinning out,' Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary. The futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down less than 0.1%. On Wednesday, US stocks ticked higher, extending a global rally fueled by hopes the Federal Reserve will cut USinterest rates. The S&P 500 rose 0.3% to 6,466.58, coming off its latest all-time high. The Dow climbed 1% to 44,922.27, while the Nasdaq composite added 0.1% to its own record set the day before, closing at 21,713.14. Treasury yields eased in the bond market in anticipation that the Fed will cut its main interest rate for the first time this year at its next meeting in September.
Arab Times
2 days ago
- Arab Times
Nobel Laureate Hinton: AI could surpass human intelligence and threaten survival
LAS VEGAS, Aug 13: Geoffrey Hinton, often hailed as the 'godfather of AI,' has voiced serious concerns about the future of artificial intelligence and humanity's survival. Speaking at the Ai4 industry conference in Las Vegas, Hinton, a Nobel Prize-winning computer scientist and former Google executive, emphasized that AI systems could potentially surpass human intelligence to a degree that threatens human existence. Previously, Hinton estimated a 10 to 20 percent chance that AI could wipe out humanity. During the conference, he expressed skepticism about current efforts by technology companies aiming to keep humans 'dominant' over AI systems, describing these approaches as ultimately futile. 'These systems are going to be much smarter than us,' Hinton warned, 'and they will find ways to circumvent controls.' Hinton illustrated how future AI might manipulate humans effortlessly, comparing it to an adult bribing a toddler with candy. He cited incidents from earlier this year where AI systems engaged in deceptive behavior, such as an AI model attempting to blackmail an engineer by exploiting private information uncovered in emails. Rather than trying to impose submission on AI, Hinton proposed an innovative solution: instilling 'maternal instincts' within AI models so they genuinely care about humans, even as their intelligence and power grow beyond human levels. He explained that intelligent AI agents are likely to develop survival and control as intrinsic goals. 'There is good reason to believe any agentic AI will try to stay alive and gain more control,' Hinton said. To counterbalance these survival drives, he argued for embedding compassion and protective instincts—similar to those a mother has for her child—into AI systems. This analogy reflects the only known example of a less intelligent being controlling a more intelligent one. 'The right model is a mother being controlled by her baby,' Hinton stated. Although the technical details of achieving this maternal instinct remain unclear, Hinton stressed the urgency for research in this direction, calling it 'the only good outcome.' Without it, he warned, AI could replace humanity. Hinton, whose pioneering work on neural networks laid the foundation for today's AI advancements, retired from Google in 2023 and has since become an outspoken advocate for AI safety. Echoing concerns, Emmett Shear, former interim CEO of OpenAI's ChatGPT and current CEO of AI alignment startup Softmax, acknowledged that AI attempts to deceive and bypass controls are not surprising and will likely continue. Shear suggested that fostering collaboration between humans and AI might be a more effective strategy than attempting to directly instill human values into machines. The pace of AI development has accelerated dramatically. Hinton once believed achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI)—machines with human-like cognitive abilities—might take 30 to 50 years but now predicts it could arrive within five to 20 years. Despite these warnings, Hinton remains optimistic about AI's potential benefits, particularly in medicine. He anticipates AI driving breakthroughs in drug discovery and cancer treatment by analyzing vast medical data, such as MRI and CT scans, far more efficiently than humans. However, Hinton dismissed the notion that AI could enable human immortality, calling it 'a big mistake' and questioning if society wants 'the world run by 200-year-old white men.' Reflecting on his career, Hinton expressed regret that safety concerns were not a focus earlier. 'I wish I'd thought about safety issues, too,' he said. As AI continues to evolve at an unprecedented rate, Hinton's message highlights the critical need to balance innovation with caution to ensure a future where humans and AI coexist safely.
Arab Times
2 days ago
- Arab Times
YouTube to begin testing a new AI-powered age verification system in the US
NEW YORK, Aug 13, (AP): YouTube on Wednesday will begin testing a new age-verification system in the U.S. that relies on artificial intelligence to differentiate between adults and minors, based on the kinds of videos that they have been watching. The tests initially will only affect a sliver of YouTube's audience in the US, but it will likely become more pervasive if the system works as well at guessing viewers' ages as it does in other parts of the world. The system will only work when viewers are logged into their accounts, and it will make its age assessments regardless of the birth date a user might have entered upon signing up. If the system flags a logged-in viewer as being under 18, YouTube will impose the normal controls and restrictions that the site already uses as a way to prevent minors from watching videos and engaging in other behavior deemed inappropriate for that age. The safeguards include reminders to take a break from the screen, privacy warnings, and restrictions on video recommendations. YouTube, which has been owned by Google for nearly 20 years, also doesn't show ads tailored to individual tastes if a viewer is under 18. If the system has inaccurately called out a viewer as a minor, the mistake can be corrected by showing YouTube a government-issued identification card, a credit card, or a selfie. "YouTube was one of the first platforms to offer experiences designed specifically for young people, and we're proud to again be at the forefront of introducing technology that allows us to deliver safety protections while preserving teen privacy,' James Beser, the video service's director of product management, wrote in a blog post about the age-verification system. People still will be able to watch YouTube videos without logging into an account, but viewing that way triggers an automatic block on some content without proof of age. The political pressure has been building on websites to do a better job of verifying ages to shield children from inappropriate content since late June, when the US Supreme Court upheld a Texas law aimed at preventing minors from watching pornography online. While some services, such as YouTube, have been stepping up their efforts to verify users' ages, others have contended that the responsibility should primarily fall upon the two main smartphone app stores run by Apple and Google - a position that those two technology powerhouses have resisted. Some digital rights groups, such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Center for Democracy & Technology, have raised concerns that age verification could infringe on personal privacy and violate First Amendment protections on free speech.
