Tech giant Google on Thursday announced the launch of Search Labs, a new program that allows people to sign up for trials, including the Search Generative Experience, and test new Google features before launching to a wider audience.
And if participating in a Google experiment sounds like selling your soul to the devil, you can rest easy, because most tech giants wouldn't even bother asking you (did anyone say TikTok?).
Search Labs registration is already open, but the new features may not be available right away, and you'll have to wait for an email message telling you when you can start testing the new AI features in search. If you haven't signed up and want to do so, you can do so by tapping the Labs icon in the latest version of the Google app (Android and iOS) or on your Chrome desktop.
What will you get as a Google AI beta tester?
In the long run, joining Google Labs will allow access to any new feature the company wants to test the impact and interest of its users before launching it to the general public. Specifically at the moment, the changes on the agenda will give classic Google tools advanced AI capabilities, including search tools, Gmail, Google Docs and others.
The new AI-powered search experience will help you understand topics faster and get things done easier. According to Google, topics that until now required you to run several searches with separate queries will now appear centralized, and the search will provide a snapshot that will help understand all the factors that need to be considered to answer the query.
The new experience can also reveal quick tips for specific questions. For example, if you search for things like "how to get an old coffee stain out of a wool sweater" or "how to renew a passport quickly," you'll get the information you're looking for directly on the results page, or see a variety of options available to take the next step, whether it's purchasing, getting in touch or going to learn more.
As part of this effort, Google promises to better integrate sales pages into search results. For example, a search for "how to peel and paste new wallpaper in the kitchen" will allow you to learn about important steps in the process, and will also direct you to a list of buying options that include price, customer ratings, and purchase links.
Selecting the option to "ask a follow-up question" or going to the next suggested step will take you into conversation mode where you can ask Google more specific questions about the topic you're researching, and the context will be moved from question to question.
But the new capabilities aren't just about a better search experience. Google offers many products today and with the addition of Google Labs, the new AI capabilities will become available in them as well. Here are some of the innovations I'm personally really looking forward to:
Summarize conversations and formulate answers in Gmail
If you have a lengthy email correspondence with several staff members, you can ask Google to summarize the conversation for you, and get a short paragraph describing what each person said and what was agreed. After that, you can write your answer in one word or sentence, and Google AI will draft a meticulous email for you that will cover all the topics discussed in a polite and matter-of-fact manner.
Similarly, if you have multiple emails on the same topic, you can ask Google to summarize them all in one summary, formulate replies to each sender, or prioritize messages within Gmail.
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Draft in a moment on Google Docs and Slides
Beta users will also enjoy generative AI capabilities in Google Docs. All the user has to do is type in a topic they want to write about, and the draft will be created immediately. Additional features coming soon will help writers find the right tone and style, right within Google Docs.
Similarly, building a presentation using Google Slides is going to be much easier, with generative AI helping to turn your creative vision into reality in seconds—with images, audio, and video automatically generated based on description alone.
Visual insights at Google Shitts
Google Sheets also shows significant improvement with raw data converted into insights visually and enabled for analysis through autocomplete, formula creation, and contextual classification.
Another feature available for Google Testers will allow you to capture chat correspondence during Google Meet conversations directly into a Shitts file.
Real-time decision making
And as with any business, sometimes there are situations where we don't really know how to act and what to do. Selecting the option "I feel lucky" will allow you to leave everything to the AI and see how it would work in your situation. Of course, any answer you receive will have to be critically examined and tailored specifically to your circumstances, but the time savings and accessibility that these new capabilities bring to the tools you already use every day is good news for anyone who loves Google Works.
In conclusion,
Google's blog said, "This experiment is our first step in adding generative AI to search, and we will make many updates and improvements over time. As we continue to reimagine how we can make search even more natural and intuitive, we're excited to let you test these new capabilities and share your feedback along the way."
Voila! Marketing and digital has already been registered as a guinea pig and we can't wait for them to open our access so we can share our findings with you.
- Marketing & Digital
- MarTech
Tags
- search engine
- Social experiment
- Research & Development
