Alphabet has announced the expansion of its AI-generated search summaries to six additional countries. This comes just two months after the company scaled back some features due to issues encountered during the initial launch.
In May, Google made its AI Overviews displayed at the top of search results pages—available to all users in the United States. These overviews were previously tested in a limited format for a year. However, the feature faced significant criticism after screenshots of factually incorrect answers. For example, a pizza recipe listing glue as an ingredient and a false statement claiming former U.S. President Barack Obama is Muslim, spread online.
Google acknowledged these “odd and erroneous overviews” and issued updates to the product in late May. These updates included new restrictions on which queries would generate AI answers. They reduced reliance on user-generated content from platforms like Reddit as sources.
“We have enough evidence to say that quality is only improving,” said Hema Budaraju, a senior director of product at Google, in an interview with Reuters. She highlighted internal data showing that users with access to the feature reported higher satisfaction levels and searched for more detailed queries compared to those without access.
The AI Overviews feature is now being introduced to Brazil, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, and the UK, with support for local languages like Portuguese and Hindi. Additionally, Google is incorporating more hyperlinks into the feature, placing relevant websites to the right of the AI-generated summary. The company is also testing an update that will include links directly within the overview text, as part of its effort to “prioritize approaches that drive traffic to relevant websites,” according to a blog post.
These updates come in response to concerns from the media industry. They expressed fears that AI-generated search features could reduce referral traffic to their sites. Budaraju emphasized that the new update aims to create a “three-way benefit” for Google, users, and publishers.
This announcement follows a recent ruling by a U.S. judge stating that Google holds an illegal monopoly on search. It pave the way for a trial that could potentially break up Alphabet. Meanwhile, AI advancements from competitors like Microsoft-backed OpenAI present an additional challenge.
