Google plans to make search more ‘personal’ with AI chat, video clips

The changes are a response to big shifts in the way people access information on the internet, including the emergence of AI bots like ChatGPT. They would nudge the service further away from its traditional format, known informally as the “10 blue links,” the WSG reported, citing company documents and people familiar with the matter.

Google plans to make its search engine more “visual, snackable, personal, and human,” with a focus on serving young people globally, according to the documents. It plans to incorporate more human voices as part of the shift, supporting content creators in the same way it has historically done with websites, the documents say.

Google’s annual I/O developer conference is only days away. At the event, the company is expected to debut new features that allow users to carry out conversations with an artificial-intelligence programme, a project code-named “Magi”.

For years, Alphabet’s Google has made minimal tweaks to the look and feel of search, which powers an advertising business that made more than USD 162 billion in revenue last year, according to WSJ. But that is changing with the fast rise of AI chatbots and short-video apps such as TikTok, both of which have captured the attention of young users.

Broadly, Google plans to place greater emphasis on responding to queries that can’t be easily answered by traditional web results, according to internal reference documents outlining the company’s strategy for making changes to the search engine this year.

Google search visitors might be more frequently prompted to ask follow-up questions or swipe through visuals such as TikTok videos in response to their queries, WSJ said.

According to WSJ, the company has already moved to integrate some online forum posts and short videos in search results, but it plans to emphasise such material even more in the future, according to the internal documents and people familiar with the matter.

Google executives have stressed to employees that the number of active websites has plateaued in recent years, said people familiar with the discussions. Internet users are increasingly turning to other apps to find information on everything from popular local restaurants to advice on how to be more productive.

(With inputs from ANI)