Thread by @kasimaslam

Google just announced its new 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗔𝗜 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵. Here’s what it is and how it’s going to change search forever. 
#thread🧵

In the announcement, Google states: “𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘈𝘐 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘚𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳....

...𝘞𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥.”

But, what does that really mean? 🤔

Outside of a few well-made but rather vague demo videos, it’s difficult to tell. Google is allowing people to opt into Search Labs to get early access to generative AI experiments. However, as of the time of this writing, the opt-in appears broken.

Based on what Google is showing/saying: They’re going to attempt to get you the right answer, in its entirety, straight out of the gate. Instead of a list of links to comb through, we’re going to start getting a direct and almost conversational response to our questions.

Generative AI is meant to “do the heavy lifting for you” and then present links and resources for further exploration. In theory, this gives you the best of both worlds. The quick and easy answer along with citations for a more traditional search experience.

One critical question this brings up is the citation: How are these AI-generated answers offering credit back to the source content they’re drawing from? Right now, it appears the answer is true across all AI platforms: They aren’t. 🫥

Even the most prolific creators are slated to become nameless, faceless nodes in the AI-driven networks as Google (and all AI tools) draw upon the ostensibly “open source” content available across the web, with no practical way to offer credit or citations.

I anticipate this lack of incentive to create quality content will have a huge impact long term. As the benefit of creating high-quality content diminishes (or gets eliminated entirely), the well of human-driven content creation will run dry.

Will the machines prove adequate replacements?

The piece that excites me the most about Google’s generative AI is its “conversational mode” which allows you to ask Google more about the topic you’re exploring. Imagine being able to talk to your search results.

And, as with #ChatGPT, generative AI is built with memory. Searches carry over from question to question, allowing Google to draw on important context when “discussing” your questions and helping you solve your problems.

Generative AI also has a strong commercial component. All of the 35 billion products in Google’s massive shopping feed are included in the catalog of options. It’ll be interesting to see how Google makes its recommendations and where they choose to monetize their inventory.

Google has yet to be clear on how #GoogleAds will participate in the journey. Mostly because they appear not to know, which makes sense. They’re going to roll out the core functionality first and then figure out where the monetization opportunities exist based on user behavior.

Read more here: blog.google/products/searc…
If you want to try to opt-in for early access, visit labs.google.com

What are your thoughts on Google's new Generative AI search? Share them in the comments.

#google #googlesearch #googleai #ai #artificialintelligence