Google is overhauling its search interface — barely changed in decades — for the age of artificial intelligence, the internet company announced at its Google I/O developer conference on Tuesday.
As part of these changes, Google is rolling out an "intelligent Search box" - a new kind of search field that expands as needed to allow longer queries.
In addition to text, it can also be filled with images, files or videos to help narrow down results. The AI will also go beyond existing autocomplete suggestions to help users formulate their questions.
In recent years, much speculation has surrounded whether new rivals — offering answers rather than links in response to queries, with the help of artificial intelligence — could pose a serious challenge to Google's dominant search engine.
The tech giant has, however, integrated such features itself, including AI-generated summaries, and says this has led to increased usage.
At the same time, however, some website operators have complained that fewer users are now reaching them on Google, as the company's AI is directly giving users information based on the websites, removing the need to click through to them.
Overall, Google is now placing a strong focus on AI. Among the announcements at I/O were new so-called AI agents - programs that can independently carry out a sequence of tasks on behalf of users. Google is competing in this space with AI companies such as OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, and Anthropic.
In search, Google is now introducing "information agents." These are designed to continuously scan the web for specified information and alert users when relevant results appear. If someone is looking for a flat matching certain criteria, for example, a Google agent could send a notification when something suitable comes up.
How Google wants to transform online shopping
Google also has ambitious plans for e-commerce. Since the advent of AI agents, there has been a vision that they could independently go online to make purchases on behalf of users. Google wants to play a central role in shaping the infrastructure for this.
The company unveiled a "smart" digital shopping basket that is designed to work across different retailers and services. Among other things, it will automatically search for lower prices and special offers on selected items — or notify users when a sold-out product becomes available again.
If you are putting together components for a computer, for example, the shopping basket will warn you if the parts are not compatible with each other.
Using a technical protocol developed by Google, AI agents will be able to make payments themselves for automated purchases on behalf of users. Users must specify which product from which brands should be bought — and how much it may cost.
Identifying AI-generated content
Google is also trying to make it easier to identify images created or edited with the help of artificial intelligence. At first it's letting users spot AI content only in the app for its in-house AI software Gemini. Search and the Chrome web browser will follow later.
If someone has doubts about whether a photo or video is authentic, they will be able to ask whether AI was involved in its creation. Google also plans to offer interfaces to integrate other services designed to help detect AI.
