Google's head of search, Liz Reid, said the company will continue to develop its AI features despite the ongoing and potential problems.
Its meaning. When it comes to AI in search, Google will continue to take careful risks, test extensively and address any issues quickly, Read said in an all-hands meeting last week, CNBC reported.
Why we care. Google is evolving from a traditional search engine to an answer engine. This transition will not be quick or easy, and there is still much we don't know about how AI Overview will impact search strategy and performance.
What Google is saying. Here are some of the things Reid said at the meeting:
- “It’s important to address issues as soon as they are discovered, rather than holding back on adding features just because there might be occasional issues.
- “I don't think we should take a lesson from this that we shouldn't take risks. We should take risks carefully. We should act with urgency. As new issues are found, we should do thorough testing, but we're not necessarily going to find everything. It's just that we're responding.”
- “Someone has actually created a template on how to create fake AI summaries to get social engagement, so that’s something else we’re looking at.
- “No matter how many red team exercises you conduct, you need to conduct more.
- “Not only do you need to understand the quality of your site and pages, but you also need to understand each part of the page.
- “If you see a problem, no matter how small or large, please report it.”
The problem with AI. The AI-generated answers displayed in Google's newly launched AI Overview were criticized for giving dangerous and incorrect answers, such as running with scissors, cooking with glue, eating rocks, and drinking urine.
- Google said some of the AI ​​Overview screenshots were faked, while others were the result of missing data (i.e. information gaps). The company said it found “content policy violations in fewer than one in every 7 million unique queries where AI Overview was shown.”
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