Artificial intelligence (AI) takes care of most of the features for Google if, not of all of them. The fact that this is the way Google News has learned to recommend podcasts, articles and what not, to its users. And the Mountain View company is determined on expanding its influence.
With a new name, fresh look and updated features, Discover helps you find new information and inspiration in Search, no query required → https://t.co/uZn4DCJM65 #SearchIs20 pic.twitter.com/EyrEtyFu4M
— Google (@Google) September 24, 2018
At an event today celebrating Google’s 20th anniversary, it unveiled off 3 new AI enhancements bound for Search: auto-generated “immersive content,” video previews, and improved image search.
Artificial Intelligence is being involved in everything
“When Search first began, our results were just plain text,” Cathy Edwards, director of engineering at Google Images, said in a blog post. “Today, we’re introducing … fundamental shifts in how we think about Search, including a range of new features that use AI to make your search experience more visual and enjoyable.”
The first of these concerns were AMP Stories, Google’s open source library that helps publishers to build web-based, Snapchat-like flipbooks with crazy graphics, animations, videos, and streaming audio. (Google debuted AMP Stories in February with 8 publishers, including Vox Media, Conde Nast, and The Washington Post.) The company said it’s using AI to “construct” AMP Stories and surface them in search results, starting first with stories about celebrities, athletes, and other “notable people.”
Google’s contribution to change in the upcoming future
On the video part, Google is focusing computer vision to “deeply understand” the content of videos and highlight them in Search. Featured videos, as what it calls them, will automatically link to subtopics of searches in addition to top-level content.
“For Zion National Park, you might see a video for each attraction, like Angels Landing or the Narrows,” Edwards wrote. “This provides a more holistic view of the video content available for a topic, and opens up new paths to discover more.”
Google Images and the new redesign
On another end, Google Images is getting an overhaul. The firm said it has retooled the Images algorithm with a greater emphasis on web page authority, the new and early content, and image placement. (Sites where photos are “central to the page” and “higher up” on the page will get priority.) Also, starting this week, Google Images will begin to feature captions with web page titles and related search terms.
Last but not least, Google announced that Google Lens, its visual search tool, will shift from Android and iOS to the web. The new Google Lens will be more user-friendly. Better at searching for every possible thing. Be it barcodes, QR codes, furniture, food items, anything. (It’ll let the user dive deeper by drawing on parts of the image that the Lens didn’t preselect earlier.)
“We hope these changes will make it easier — and more visually interesting — to traverse the web, find information, and pursue your interests,” Edwards said.
Google’s AI Search enhancements were unveiled alongside the new Activity Card, a new tab above mobile results that shows related and previous searches one have performed. Another new feature, Collections, lets the user save searches around topics.
Unveiled another set of Surprise
Today the launch of Discover also happened, a stream of contextual topic headings and cards on the Google homepage; AI-powered tools designed to help in emergencies, including a flood prediction model (which will roll out first in India); and Pathways, a job search tool that recommends listings and training programs (it’s launching in Virginia).