Google is using AI to create a somewhat unique approach to reading articles online.
As outlined in a Tuesday blog post, Google is applying its generative AI efforts towards something called “SGE while browsing,” which is part of its larger AI-based Search Labs initiative. The idea is that you open a long-form article of some kind and Google’s AI puts together a bullet-point list of key points within the article. Click on one, and it’s supposed to take you to the part of the article that addresses said key point.
Right now, SGE while browsing is available in the Google app on iOS and Android, and will come to Chrome on desktop “in the days ahead.”
Google gave an example in the blog post that involved an article about Route 66. Some of the bullet-points include “What year did they start route 66?” and “How far does Route 66 stretch?,” just to give you an idea of what kinds of key points the AI thinks you’ll want to know. There is, of course, one major caveats to this: It only works on free articles. Anything behind a paywall is disqualified.
This isn’t a wholesale replacement of human-created journalism like many are afraid may happen as AI evolves and companies adopt it, but it is a reminder that AI is coming for the way you consume news…whether you like it or not.
