Google wants you to chat with its search algorithms
Google is rolling out “Search Live” a new conversational AI-powered search experience, via the Google smartphone app.
It takes voice inputs from users who, via back-and-forth spoken queries, receive AI-voiced audio responses.
At the moment, Search Live is deployed as an 'AI-mode' user experiment.
This service uses a customised version of Google’s Gemini AI model, integrated with existing Google Search relevance and quality systems.
Notably, for SEO nerds, it is among a number of Google AI-mode services that use “query fan-out” - a Gemini feature that picks up extra tangential queries, based on inferred user intent. In other words, the AI assesses similar and parallel queries to the one you ask of it, then serves deeper, more diverse and more engaging set of results.
Search Live also keeps a transcript of the conversation, enabling users to revisit past exchanges via AI Mode history.
Future plans include potential expansions including real-time camera inputs, that would let users show 'Search' what the user is seeing, enhancing context and precision.
Search Live is seen as a new beachhead user interface, as voice interaction is expected to grow significantly as the adoption of AI widens.
According to Google, Search Live aims to blend the efficiency of AI with the familiarity of spoken dialogue, keeping Google at the forefront of hands-free, intelligent search experiences.
