Google Expands AI-powered Search Experience To India

Google has expanded its AI-driven search feature, AI Overviews, to India and five other countries, including the United Kingdom, Japan, Indonesia, Mexico and Brazil. 

This expansion comes as part of the tech giant’s strategy to reimagine its flagship search product in the era of generative AI. The feature will be available in English and Hindi in India and is set to roll out in the coming weeks, offering users the ability to listen to search responses and toggle between languages—capabilities that were piloted in the country last year.

Originally introduced in the United States in May 2024, AI Overviews provides users with quick, AI-generated summaries of search topics, accompanied by links for deeper exploration. 

“After extensive testing and positive feedback, including in the US and Search Labs globally, we’re bringing the helpfulness of AI Overviews to six new countries: India, United Kingdom, Japan, Indonesia, Mexico and Brazil – along with local language support in each country,” Hema Budaraju, senior director, product management, Search mentioned in a blog post.

The feature was first revealed at Google’s annual developer conference, Google I/O 2024, has been part of an ongoing effort to make search more interactive and conversational, particularly in response to growing competition from AI-powered services like Microsoft’s Copilot and OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

However, the initial rollout was not without its challenges. Users reported receiving bizarre and inaccurate responses, such as advice to eat rocks or use glue on pizza, leading Google to implement limits and detection mechanisms to address these issues. The company has since refined its systems to prevent nonsensical queries from triggering AI Overviews and to limit the use of user-generated content that could provide misleading advice.

In response to concerns from web publishers about potential traffic and revenue losses, Google is testing the inclusion of direct links to relevant web pages within AI Overviews. Early results from this experiment have been promising, showing that these links drive higher traffic to publisher sites. Google is also introducing a new right-hand link display on desktops and a mobile feature that allows users to easily browse relevant websites while searching.