Google tests podcast-like answers in Google Search
In Google Labs, audio overviews are included in the search. There you can receive an AI answer as a conversation or podcast.
(Image: Stock-Asso/Shutterstock.com)
It's just a test for now, but it also shows a potential direction for the future of search engines: Google now offers audio overviews for searches. This means that you can receive an answer to a search query that sounds like a podcast. Specifically, for example, an AI host and an AI guest are artificially generated to talk about the searched topic. It is therefore not just a matter of reading out an answer. Google speaks of "conversational audio overviews". This means you can also ask questions.
Google sees the advantage in the fact that you can get all the information you need "hands-free", i.e. without having to use your hands. Of course, such an approach offers even more opportunities for multitasking than already exists, writes Google on the blog post. So if you don't really want to concentrate on the information from the search or on ironing or changing a tire, then the Audio Overviews are the perfect complement to the AI services.
However, if you do feel compelled to delve deeper into a topic, Google displays suitable websites directly in the audio player. In other words, the websites from which the information presented in the Audio Overviews originates.
Videos by heise
Audio Overviews follow the AI Overviews
The function is still an experiment in Google Labs, the test environment for which you have to register. There, use is opt-in, so you can choose whether you want Audio Overviews to be displayed as a selection for suitable searches. Initially, however, only people in the USA will be able to access Audio Overviews. It is unclear when the function will be included in regular searches; AI Overviews have also been available in Germany for some time. These are the AI overviews in which Gemini provides the answer to a search query using AI-generated continuous text.
The function is based on Google's Gemini AI model. This already converts content into AI-generated podcasts under the name NotebookLM. A standalone app for both Android and iOS devices has recently been launched for this purpose. NotebookLM has to be fed with content from websites, videos and other files to compile a podcast.
(emw)
