Google Just Announced Five New Artificial Intelligence Features Coming to Search
When you think of Google search, it’s probably a simple concept: you open Google, enter a query, and view the results while dodging ads and spam. But Google’s bread and butter is actually more than just a basic search engine. You can Google questions and queries in a variety of ways using a variety of products and services. Google continues to update and modernize these options, and today’s announcement is just the latest development. Here are five new features coming to Search starting today.
Music Search Circle
Circle to Search has been available since earlier this year and allows you to literally circle items on your phone’s display to start a Google search. This is an interesting feature, and it’s getting a useful update: you’ll now be able to search for the song you’re playing using Circle to Search.
You can use it by activating the Search Circle feature (holding the Home button or navigation bar and holding it down) and then tapping the New Music button to search for music playing on or around your phone. Compatible songs will also appear as YouTube links if you also want to view the full version of the song.
This isn’t really news: Google has been testing this feature since August and is starting to roll it out for the first time on the Galaxy S24 series. But it’s great to see that it’s now available on more devices. While you can do this using either the main Google app or the YouTube app , either way it’s a useful shortcut for anyone who uses Circle for search.
Search results organized using AI
As much as I wish Google would stop adding artificial intelligence features to search, the company is moving forward with few reservations. Case in point: Google now presents AI-organized search results that group your results into relevant categories.
Google says this initial rollout is primarily focused on “recipe and meal inspiration queries,” which I suppose makes sense. For example, if you’re looking for dinner ideas, it might be helpful to group the various results into a single structure for the final recipe. This is pure speculation, but you’ll probably see a few different recipes first and then the ingredients needed for each. From there you may be able to find stores that sell what you are looking for. This could potentially save time and make it easier to try that new dish you’ve been thinking about.
In practice we will see how this actually happens. AI reviews, for example, were a disaster when they launched , to the point that I actively avoided AI company-generated results when searching. In fact, there are ways to get Google to show you good search results again and avoid AI mistakes altogether. But yes, of course: keep adding AI to search, Google.
Interact with Google Lens using your voice
For years, Google Lens has been a useful way to search for images taken with a smartphone. With Lens, you can take a photo of a plant and learn more about it, or copy text from an image using OCR (optical character recognition) and paste it somewhere else.
Google is now rolling out a new feature that allows you to dictate Google Lens queries using your voice. Google says you can simply hold down the shutter button in Lens and then set whatever you want. Instead of taking a photo, scanning it, and hoping you get the result you want, you can point your camera at a plant and ask Google what kind it is, how much it typically costs, and how to care for it. This will also work with Circle to Search, so you can long press the Home button or navigation bar, circle a product you see on screen, and learn more about it.
Additionally, Google says you can now add text to these queries to further refine what you’re looking for. For example, if you like a bag but want it to be a different color, add “blue” or “red” to your search to see if Google can find the item in the color you prefer.
Use Lens to Search Videos (Search Labs)
Likewise, you can now share videos using Lens for Search if you participate in Search Labs’ “AI Reviews and More” experiments. This feature is currently in testing, so it might not work quite as intended just yet, but if you opt in, you can try searching for the video you recorded directly in Lens.
Similar to voice search, you can use this feature by holding down the shutter button to record a video while asking a question out loud. Google’s AI model will then process both the video and your question and return the result as an AI review. (Fantastic.) In theory, though, it could be useful: If you have a question about something, say, why your tablet’s display is flickering, you can write it down, ask Lens the question out loud, and hopefully find the answer. a more accurate answer than a standard Google search would provide.
Spending money has now become easier with Lens.
Another new feature of Lens is designed to make shopping easier: when you take a photo of an item using Lens, your phone will now display an organized results page with information related to purchasing that product: you’ll see reviews, prices offered by different retailers. product and links to purchase this product.