If you’re in the US, you might see a new shaded section at the top of your Google Search results with a summary answering your inquiry, along with links for more information. That section, generated by Google’s generative AI technology, used to appear only if you’ve opted into the Search Generative Experience(SGE) in the Search Labs platform. Now, according to Search Engine Land, Google has started adding the experience on a “subset of queries, on a small percentage of search traffic in the US.” And that is why you could be getting Google’s experimental AI-generated section even if you haven’t switched it on.
Almost every time I ask a direct question, the two AI answers almost always directly contradict each other. Yesterday I asked if vinegar cuts grease. I received explanations for both why its an excellent grease cutter, and why it doesn’t because it’s an acid.
I think this will be a major issue with AI. Just because it was trained on a huge wealth of knowledge doesn’t mean that it was trained on correct knowledge.
I don’t see any reason being trained on writing informed by correct knowledge would cause it to be correct frequently. unless you’re expecting it to just verbatim lift sentences from training data
another win for the startpage gang
Technically if you submit a query to the search engine, you do so because you want answer to a question in the best way possible without having to do too much digging.
So does it matter if it uses AI to help you? I say its a great feature.
We’re in the technology sub. People here are old enough to know how to Google (old forums, preferably Reddit, as Lemmy is absent), they don’t know how to use an AI effectively (just look at how they’re trying to justify that). Don’t worry about the downvotes and their nonsense responses. Those are the same people who microwave their water instead of using an electric kettle.
I actually get a kick out of downvote score