Google brings AI-powered search tool for Indian users; check it out

Called the Search Generative Experience (SGE), this new experiment, which was first launched in the US in May 2023, is an opt-in feature found under its Search Labs initiative.

Available in English and Hindi in India, it also has some unique features tailored for Indian users such as a text-to-speech option and a voice search feature is expected to be added soon.

How to access SGE?

You have to go to the Labs icon in the top left corner of the Google app or Chrome desktop to try out this experimental feature.

Once you access it, and type in your query, a new integrated search results page will start appearing carrying an AI-generated snapshot among the search results. This will feature a quick outline of the topic and links to go deeper into the topic. Google said that though it creates snapshots to answer queries, it will also include the original source of the topic for those who want to read in detail.

"With this powerful new technology, we can unlock new types of questions you never thought Search could answer, and transform the way information is organised, to help you sort through and make sense of what’s out there," said Puneesh Kumar, general manager, Google Search in their India blog.

Other functions of this AI-powered search

There is also an option to ask a follow-up question or choose one of the suggested questions to dig deeper and get into a new conversational mode. Also, users can still see the traditional search results below the AI generated summary text.

Google has also pointed out that search ads will continue to appear in dedicated ad slots throughout the page but it will carry a “Sponsored” label in bold black text.

An example given by Google

To a question, Which is a good beginner trek in Himachal and how to prepare for it?, a user need not pour through tonnes of information and sort out what they need. Instead, this search helps you to piece the information in a coherent summary. Below the AI-generated summary, the user can see a string of suggested next steps in which they can simply tap a follow-up query like “How to take great photos on a trek?”. This conversational mode helps to explore a topic more intuitively, according to Google.

Kumar said the AI search experience will not pop up for all queries at the moment. It will only be for the ones where they "have high confidence".

"Over time, we will keep evaluating, iterating and fine tuning so that new query types can also start getting triggered by SGE. At the end of the day, they have to make the experience simpler, smarter and faster for users. So, we will not trigger the SGE experience where we are not able to do that on day one," he said. Google wants users to give them feedback on their new feature.

New features tailored for India

In India, users while using SGE can switch from an English result to Hindi by tapping the language toggle button, listen to the response with Text-To-Speech by tapping the ‘Listen’ button. And Google expects to roll out the facility to tap the microphone icon in conversational mode to ask follow-up questions instead of typing them.

These initiatives to make the search engine more "helpful" comes at a time when Google is facing intense competition from its rival Microsoft, which is also integrating generative AI capabilities across its products, including in its search engine Bing. For Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Google is right now engaged in a “period of incredible innovation for search” adding that Generative AI "gives us a chance to now not always be constrained in the way Search was working before, allowed us to think outside the box". Over time, it may well become the norm as to how Search works.