In a recent interview, Google CEO Sundar Pichai reportedly responded to concerns raised by independent news websites and publishers about the introduction of the new Google AI Previews feature. The feature was announced at the company’s developer conference, Google I/O 2024, held on May 14. Speaking to The Verge’s Nilay Patel last week, Pichai said he acknowledged the growing trepidation but offered an optimistic view of the potential problem. . He reportedly emphasized that the feature results in improved user engagement and more clicks compared to regular search results.
Previously available to select people through Search Labs, the AI Insights feature is being rolled out more broadly in the US at Google I/O 2024. It leverages the company’s Gemini Large Language Model (LLM) to answer search queries by summarizing them , with relevant links. While its rollout aims to provide information “in the blink of an eye,” independent news websites and publishers that rely on Google for web traffic have raised concerns, with some calling it a “death blow to publishers,” the Verge reports.
Speaking to The Verge’s Nilay Patel last week, Pichai reportedly argued otherwise, claiming that the company’s internal data revealed that the AI Views feature not only led to higher engagement, but also increased click-through rates. While no metrics were provided to back up the claims, Pichai reportedly pointed out that Google is trying to maintain a balance between helping websites and providing users with useful and meaningful content.
Websites, on the other hand, are losing traffic not because of Google’s AI-powered features like SGE and AI Reviews, but because of the aggregators in the middle, the Verge quoted Pichai as saying. “Ironically, there are times when we’ve made changes to send more traffic to smaller sites. Some of those sites that complain a lot are the aggregators in the middle,” the CEO said.
Pichai also reportedly expressed the importance of human-generated content, with user preferences and content quality being significant. He suggested that an optimistic but cautious approach must be maintained when it comes to integrating artificial intelligence into content generation and creation.
