AI search: Google brings AI Overviews to Germany

In Germany, the AI Overviews, which are already available in some countries, will be called Overview with AI. Google will now also display the AI-generated continuous texts as answers in German in this country, if Google believes it makes sense to answer a question with such a text. This is especially the case for particularly complex questions, says Google. Otherwise, the person asking the question will receive a list of links and previews as before.

The AI overviews appear above further links, but also contain links to the sources. There will initially be no advertising within the AI answers, but there will be space around them for ads and sponsored search results, as is usual with Google.

The continuous texts are generated by a version of Gemini, Google's Large Language Model (LLM), which has been explicitly trained for search tasks. Google's ranking systems are also used. In the previous search, there were a number of factors that were responsible for the ranking. These include the Core Web Vitals, which are concerned with how well a website is structured. Google constantly updates which content is rated particularly well in so-called core updates. Currently, the focus is on which information is helpful for users. AI-generated answers will also play a role in determining which sources are used and linked to.

AI-generated answers are changing the internet

Google asserts that all search security measures now also apply to AI overviews. This applies in particular to so-called "Your Money Your Life" websites –, i.e. those whose content could affect the safety, health and financial stability of people and the well-being of society.

According to Google, the AI search does not hallucinate in the same way as an LLM or chatbot alone because it accesses the web content. However, the model can still misinterpret information. In countries where AI Overviews have been available for some time, there have already been extremely questionable AI responses – as with all current AI models from all providers.

The problem is that people are often already satisfied with the AI overviews and therefore no longer go to the source's website for the information. However, the source then also loses the opportunity to earn money with advertising on its own site. A business model that has prevailed for years, but is now on the brink with AI-generated answers. This also applies to AI searches from ChatGPT, Perplexity and Copilot.

Google says that the quality of the clicks is better, meaning that people spend longer on the website and are also more satisfied. They would not have to open websites in a hurry and then close them again in disappointment because the source was not what they had hoped for. According to Google, people who are shown AI Overviews are more satisfied. Even more young people are using the AI search. They were recently known to search for information on Tiktok.

(emw)