For decades, Google’s Search AI engine we’ve gone to, and it’s evolved constantly to figure out better ways to search the web. With its newest AI injection, Google is now one giant leap forward with its search engine being able to answer more complex queries especially those involving videos and photos. This new capability means that users will be able to interact with search results in a new way, and more accurately than before, to get precise, voiced answers about visual content. Let’s take a look at what this update means, and how it may shake up the way we search online.
A Smarter Google: What’s New?
Google’s new AI-enabled features mean that now the search engine can understand questions about text as well as about videos and images. This, in practical terms, means that when users encounter a photo or video in their search results, they can then ask follow-up questions or request explanations regarding that visual content and Google’s AI will reply.
Let’s say you watch a cooking video and want to know what step in a recipe a scene pertains to, you can say, “What is happening in [that] scene?” or “And what ingredients are in here?” Google’s AI will suss out the content and deliver you a spoken-for answer.
Depending on whether you want to perform a more general query (e.g. finding locations in images) or a more context-aware question (e.g. understand certain actions in video), this feature applies. Under the hood, it can figure out tiny things that occur in the visuals and cross-check them against Google’s vast knowledge database for a more specific view of what you’re looking at.
Changing the Way We Search: A More Interactive Experience
Google’s new AI addition is conclusive in the ways we will interact with search engines. Instead of using the traditional search typing method, and web link sift, the search method is becoming increasingly more dynamic and reactive, where users can interact with the search content in real-time. That is extremely useful because, for example, visual learners, or people who require instant answers, without reading through lengthy articles or descriptions.
Here are a few scenarios where this new feature could be especially helpful:
Learning New Skills: Imagine watching a tutorial video on YouTube or embedded in your search results and you are able to ask “What tool is being used here?” or “Can you explain this step?” Learning through visual media can be more interactive and intuitive, particularly when this can happen.
Travel and Exploration: You’re seeing a famous sight, but you have no idea what it is. ‘What is this building?’ you can simply ask Google and it’ll tell you what it’s called, without you even having to prompt it with anything.
Understanding Complex Concepts: Whether you’re watching educational videos in a class or at home, you can ask questions when watching, for example: “In this equation, what does this really mean?” and get answers that help you understand the subject better.
Final Thoughts
As the latest in Google’s new foray into search with their AI, it is a massive leap for how we search the web. Google is teeing off at the boundaries of what we should expect from search engines; the ability to answer detailed, voice-based questions regarding videos and pictures. It is a technology that promises to make search quicker, more interactive, and mostly useful to users.
With AI getting smarter, there will be much more sophisticated ways of interacting with search results, making information more readily available and on an immediate basis than ever before. Or maybe Google’s search engine just became the perfect means to understand the world through its visual avatar …