Google CEO Sundar Pichai says AI overviews feature helping websites drive engagement
Google CEO Sundar Pichai has addressed concerns that new independent websites and publishers raised regarding introducing new Google AI overview features.
In a candid Interview with Verge’s Nilay Patel last week, Pichai openly acknowledged the rising concern about the Google AI feature. The feature was announced at the company’s developer conference, Google I/O 2024, on May 14.
He reportedly stressed that the feature is improving user engagement and generating more clicks than regular search results.
The AI overviews feature, which was previously available for access to select people through the search lab, was rolled out on a broader scale in the US at Google I/O 2024. It leverages the company’s Gemini Large Language Model (LLM) to fulfill search queries by offering a brief overview of the same along with the relevant Links.
While its introduction aims to offer information ‘in the blink of an eye, ‘ independent news websites and publishers that depend on Google for web traffic have raised concerns, with some calling it a “death blow to publishers,” as the Verge reports.
In the Interview, Pichai asserted the contrary, claiming that the company’s internal data stated that the AI Overviews feature has not only driven higher engagement but also maximized CTR. Although no metrics to support the claims were provided, Pichai also highlighted that Google is attempting to maintain a balance between helping websites and offering helpful and meaningful content for users.
Also, the websites on the other hand, are losing traffic not to Google’s AI-powered features like SGE and AI overviews but to aggregators in the middle, the Verge quoted Pichai as saying. “Ironically, there are times when we have made changes to actually send more traffic to smaller websites. Some of those sites that complain a lot are the aggregator in the Middle”, the CEO said.
Google’s CEO underscored the importance of Human-generated content, emphasizing the user’s preferences and the quality of the content as significant factors. He also advocated for an optimistic but cautious approach to the integration of AI in content generation and creation. This emphasis on caution reassures the audience about the responsible use of technology, instilling a sense of trust.
Also, during the interviews, the interviewer recalled how Pichai indirectly mentioned Open AI and how the newly updated GPT-40 demo looked similar to the multimodal search agent demos.
Based on these circumstances, the interviewer asked If Purchase was under pressure from the competition; Pichai stated that it was similar to the voice assistance competition between Siri, Alexa, etc., a few years ago. “When you have an evolving underlying technology, you get this kind of parallel innovation, which is exciting as it enables radically improved experiences. We have had this vision for powerful assistance but were held back by technological limitations until now,” he said.
During the conversation, the interviewer recalled how Pichai indirectly mentioned OpenAI and how the recent GPT-4o demo looked similar to the multimodal search agent demos. Based on this, the interviewer asked if Pichai was under pressure from competition. Pichai said it was no different than the competition between Siri, Alexa, etc., a few years ago for voice assistants.
“When you have an evolving underlying technology, you get this kind of parallel innovation, which is exciting as it allows radically improving experiences. We’ve had this vision for a powerful assistant but were held back by technological limitations until now,” he said.
