Google launches a new AI search engine: how to sign up
Google has launched Search Generative Experience, or SGE, an experimental version of Search that embeds answers from artificial intelligence directly into results, the company announced in a blog post Thursday.
Unlike a normal Google search, which displays a list of blue links, SGE uses AI to answer your questions directly on the Google search webpage. After entering a query into Google Search, a green or blue box will expand with a new response generated by Google’s large language model, like the one that powers OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Google pulls this information from websites and links to sources used when generating a response. It is also possible to ask follow-up questions in SGE to obtain more precise results.
At this time, SGE is not open to the public and requires you to register with Google’s research labs. To join, click the link here. Search Labs is currently only available to a limited number of people in the US and English only, although you can join the waitlist. Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
With the launch of ChatGPT late last year, an AI chatbot that could answer almost any question with a single answer, companies have added generative AI features to their products in the context of heightened public interest. Google unveiled Bard earlier this year, an AI chatbot similar to ChatGPT. Microsoft followed by adding ChatGPT directly into Bing, including an AI image generator powered by Dall-E, also by OpenAI. AI chatbots are powered by a large language model, or LLM, a technology that uses a massive set of textual data to write sentences that mimic human language. The model essentially aims to determine what the next best word should be during sentence generation, a process that has been described as “autocomplete on steroids.”
AI was also front and center earlier this month at Google I/O, the search giant’s annual developer conference, with the term being spoken more than 140 times during the two-hour presentation. During I/O, Cathy Edwards, vice president of engineering at Google, said that with a standard Google search, users have to break complex queries into multiple questions, scour websites for information and formulate the answer in their head. With SGE, AI can do it all for you.
How to Join the Google Search Labs Waitlist
Here’s how to join the research lab waiting list to be among the first to test Google’s EMS:
- Open the Chrome browser on a computer.
- Log in to your Google account.
- Open a new tab in your browser.
- At the top right there will be a Labs icon (of a beaker) if Labs is available to you.
- If the Labs icon is there, click it, then click Join the waiting list.
You will receive an email when Labs is available.
SGE is part of Search Labs and includes experimental features like Code Tips, which gives coding suggestions directly in Search, and Add to Sheets, a feature that can automatically integrate information found in Search into Google Sheets.
If you can access SGE now, Google asks you to agree to its privacy notice and asks you not to include any sensitive or confidential personal information that “could be used to identify you or others in your interactions with EMS features”. This is because during this trial some data will be analyzed by human reviewers, although the data will be “stored in a manner that is not associated with your Google Account”. It is possible to delete interactions via the My Activity page.
Google also warns of the follies of generative AI and that accuracy may vary. This likely refers to “hallucinations”, a problem seen with generative AI where it can confidently tell something is right when it isn’t. Google suggests you don’t rely on generative AI for medical, legal, financial, or other professional services.
Editors’ note: CNET uses an AI engine to create personal finance explanations that are edited and verified by our editors. To learn more, see this post.SGE can be accessed via Chome desktop web browser or Google Android and iOS apps. a great language model
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