Key Takeaways
- While Google Search AI Overviews clearly display their sources, overviews generated by the Gemini app currently do not, making it difficult to assess the reliability of the information provided.
- A potential update to the Gemini app, discovered in its beta code, suggests that Gemini overviews may soon include a readily accessible list of sources, similar to the functionality already present in Google Search.
- This improvement would address a key distinction between the two AI-powered features and enhance users’ ability to evaluate the credibility of information presented in Gemini overviews.
If there’s one major takeaway from recent events, it’s that misinformation is a plague — and it only grows more prominent with technology like artificial intelligence, when even “verified” sources still need to be fact-checked for accuracy.
While a tool like Google Gemini can make it significantly easier to research a subject, overviews provided by AI shouldn’t be taken at face value. A recent finding in the beta code for the Google app suggests these overviews might be receiving a long-overdue upgrade that will make it simpler for diligent users to determine how accurate the information is.
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Google Search infamously provides AI Overviews for certain queries, and the sourcing for this feature has been drastically improved in recent months. But this same functionality is also present within the Gemini app, which is particularly useful if you have Gemini set as your default assistant and ask it random questions that could benefit from a quick summarization. Except the AI Overviews provided by Gemini don’t make it easy to see sourcing — in fact, it’s terribly convoluted in its current form.
Prominent sourcing is shown for AI Overviews in Google Search (left), but not in Gemini (right)
At present, when you search for a topic using Gemini, the assistant creates an AI Overview that is almost identical to what you’d see in Google Search, except without any inline sourcing. To find the sources of this information, you have to tap the Google icon at the bottom of the response, after which the tool will essentially search the internet for sources of each bullet or statement. It’s not very discoverable, it takes a few seconds, and the fact that it’s searching for sourcing after generating the response doesn’t instill a ton of confidence.
The current process of finding sources for Gemini’s AI Overviews
Thankfully, an APK teardown by Android Authority examining in-progress code revealed a potential update that would list all sources and relevant content that Gemini used to create the overview. The new feature places a Sources and related content header at the bottom of the page with an expansion caret beside it, and tapping that will list every website Gemini used as a source.
New inline sourcing for Gemini’s AI Overviews spotted in development (Source: AssembleDebug / Android Authority)
AI Overviews with consistent sourcing, regardless of where you see them
The new sourcing is similar to how Google Search’s AI Overviews work, listing its sources if you click Show all. This feature makes it easy to see if the information comes from a reputable source. For instance, an official travel website would be one of the best sources to search for information on tourist attractions in Paris, but a blog talking about a dream trip to France? Maybe not so much.
The code was found in the Google app v15.47.28 beta, and though Google has hinted that a feature like this could be on the way, the company provided no timeline for it.
As with any beta code findings, there’s no guarantee this feature will reach fruition, as Google could always cancel it or change it at the last minute. However, that doesn’t seem likely; it fits too well with already-implemented features and with Google’s quest for a friendlier, more homogenized user environment. Despite the lack of a timeline, the feature seems nearly complete based on the beta. With any luck, it will fully launch onto Android devices soon.
