At the I/O event held in May, Google announced AI Overviews for everyone. The feature uses content summarization tech to go through the most relevant search results (per the search query) and generate overviews or summaries. The generated content appears in a separate section below the search query above the general search engine results that follow. However, within a few days of the launch, the feature started attracting criticism, primarily due to inaccuracies and inappropriate results.
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Here’s What Google Says About The Inaccuracies In AI Overviews
Per Google, the feature will appear whenever the AI system deems it right to show summaries; there’s no direct way to turn it off. However, it’s not like the company hasn’t addressed the criticism it has faced over the days. In fact, Google has acknowledged and even defended its AI Overviews feature on several occasions.
In defending the AI Overviews feature, Google wrote in a recent blog post that it works very differently than chatbots and other LLM products. “While AI Overviews are powered by a customized language model, the model is integrated with our core web ranking systems and designed to carry out traditional search tasks.” This is why the feature links to the most relevant search results so people can explore their queries further.
Three Reasons Why Google’s AI Overviews Weren’t All Accurate
Touching on the subject of inaccuracies, Google mentioned that AI Overviews don’t generally hallucinate like other LLM products. However, when they get something wrong, it’s usually because they misinterpreted queries, misinterpreted a nuance of language on the web, or didn’t have a great deal of information about something. The company also mentions that many fake screenshots have been shared widely.
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The Lack Of Information About Satirical Topics Sounds Reasonable
“But some odd, inaccurate or unhelpful AI Overviews certainly did show up. And while these were generally for queries that people don’t commonly do, it highlighted some specific areas that we needed to improve.” One area that Google identified needed improvement was the ability to handle satirical content. For instance, if someone searches for “How many rocks should I eat?” In that case, there isn’t much content available on the internet because it is, well, general information that people can’t eat rocks.
Discussion Forums Could Also Add To The Instances Of Unmeaningful Results
AI Overviews has also pulled up sarcastic content from discussion forums, which aren’t helpful either. Nonetheless, to safeguard against all these things, Google has deployed better detection mechanisms for nonsensical queries. Further, the company has updated its systems to limit the use of user-generated content in responses that could offer unmeaningful advice. Further, the company is now aiming to show AI overviews for hard news topics.
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Google AI Overviews Are Now Showing In About 15 Percent Results
It could be an aftermath of the restrictions or a safe step back from Google that AI Overviews aren’t available for as many search results as they used to be. Data from BrightEdge (via Search Engine Land) indicates a sharp drop in the presence of AI in search results. Historically, AI was present in 84 percent of search results (when the feature was in an opt-in state).
However, since the company announced the feature and following criticism for inappropriate results, AI presence is now less than 15 percent. Although a report from 9To5Google says that the data isn’t accurate in the current situation, it sure makes it clear that Google has reduced the use of AI Overviews.
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Why Did Google Reduce Showing AI Overviews In Search?
“The likely reason is to reduce the risks of incorrect AI answers in the initial rollout,” mentions the report by Search Engine Land. Further, it mentions that AI Overviews are 195 percent more likely to appear when Google has a featured snippet related to a search query. Here are some of the key findings mentioned in the report.
- “Question-based queries are also more likely to feature AI Overviews.”
- “AIO is less likely to show when site links are present and on local queries.”
- AI Overviews continue to appear most often for search results in healthcare (down to 63 percent from 76 percent in January).
The SEO firm has also found that Google has reduced showing the same answers in two types of results (AI Overviews and general search results). From what it looks like, Google isn’t holding back on AI in Search. However, it surely is adopting a more cautious approach to how the AI Overviews appear and the type of content they contain.
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