Google rolls out AI-generated, summarized search results in US

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   PaulGoodman67posted 7 months ago

   Oh boy, this is just what we need! (Not!)
   
   "Google will use artificial intelligence to return summarized responses to search engine queries from US users as it continues to infuse generative AI into its most widely used products.
   
   The company has been testing “AI overviews” that appear at the tops of search results, summaries created by its Gemini AI model that appear alongside the traditional link-based search results."
   
   Supposedly, it's not all bad. If you believe Google, anyway.
   
   "Google said the traditional search format still seemed to benefit from the AI-generated approach, with web links proving even more popular in tests."
   
   Link to the full article in The Guardian:
   
   Google rolls out AI-generated, summarized search results in US

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      Solarasposted 7 months agoin reply to this

      As I said before, I have seen some of these results, and they are comical at best.  At least 25% were completely wrong.  Photos of Joan Crawford in place of Audrey Hepburn.  Weird stuff, and I can only imagine weirder stuff for the more esoteric topics.
      
      AI is not there, and maybe never will be.  Meanwhile AI steals content from other sources: the source of which it cannot confirm to its owners from where it stole its content. Therefore, they can just steal content from us and others with impunity. 
      
      AI cannot just be an aggregator,  where is the Intelligence in that?  It's masked theft, disguised by its creators as some sort of super intelligence, which is in fact a program for stealing content and blending it together. An enhanced form of spinning via combining multiple information sources..

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      JerryFisherposted 7 months agoin reply to this

      I would imagine that's going to upset a lot of companies/corporations ad agencies, that spend hundreds of thousands/millions annually with Google for high ranking.

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         PaulGoodman67posted 7 months agoin reply to this

         I think we can be sure that whatever the system, Google will have a way to make money out of it.
         
         Google believes that AI is the future. That doesn't automatically mean they're right, but betting against them is perhaps risky.

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            JerryFisherposted 7 months agoin reply to this

            True

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      Sherry Hewinsposted 6 months agoin reply to this

      I don't know. I've pretty much given up. I'm leaving my old articles for the pennies I get, but I haven't made a new one in a long time. What will be will be. There's not much I can do about it. You can't fight progress.

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      Patricia Pearsonposted 6 months agoin reply to this

      Deleted
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         Kenna McHughposted 6 months agoin reply to this

         Unfortunately, like everything else today, they'll shove it down our throats.

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            theraggededgeposted 6 months agoin reply to this

            I'll take a punt that 'Patricia' is a spammer. They've been here 35 minutes and posted this within a minute of joining. No bio and already resurrected an old thread.

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               Kenna McHughposted 6 months agoin reply to this

               Good catch!

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   Rupert Taylorposted 7 months ago

   Thanks for the alert Paul. However, having read the Guardian article I haven't the foggiest what any of this means.
   
   Trying to decode tech-speak makes what's left of my brain hurt. I'll just keep bashing the keyboard in the same way I've done for decades and if Google's latest machinations reduce my daily earnings from cup-of-coffee levels to a small glass of water so be it. There's nothing I can do to change what Google does.

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      PaulGoodman67posted 7 months agoin reply to this

      It basically means that AI generates short answers to Google search queries and these appear at the top of the page.
      
      A portion of people will read these answers and not bother to visit any of the websites, links to which are positioned lower down the page.
      
      It may not be perfect to begin with, but it's likely to get better over time and signals the direction that search is moving in.
      
      The idea is that people go to AI for answers and not websites. While this roll-out may seem like a minor change, it's probably the beginning of a major shift.

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         SerenityHaloposted 7 months agoin reply to this

         Yuck. I do not like this change. People should be going online to find information from real people, experts, curators.
         
         My hope is that this causes a downfall for Google and other more ethical search engines rise to the top. I know that’s a bit naive, but seeing as how AI is unstable… this would be the perfect time for competition to step up its game.

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            PaulGoodman67posted 7 months agoin reply to this

            Google is betting on AI improving over time. With all their resources, it's difficult to bet against them.
            
            How they solve the problems with a lack of veracity and reliance on scraping human-generated material is difficult to see, though.
            
            It could be like self-driving vehicles where most of the issues are relatively easy to solve with technology, but then some core challenges crop up that are extremely challenging.
            
            The predictions were that there would be Uber-style automated taxis by now but it hasn't happened and doesn't look like it will happen anytime soon.

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               eugbugposted 7 months agoin reply to this

               I don't see how they're going to match for instance the step-by-step guides I make with detailed photos that are very specific. They can only be generated by someone who has written an article not AI, because the results produced by the latter would be very generic. However WikiHow has had illustrations for explaining things for years before AI was developed. I'm not sure how they do those, unless they've got a team of illustrators. Unfortunately though, many people don't want detailed information and are lazy enough to be satisfied by brief guides.

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                  Solarasposted 7 months agoin reply to this

                  AI does not report back to its creator where it scraped its information from (i.e. there are no footnotes to the AI articles).  This has to be a feature for the creators of AI, as big data could easily handle storing all of that information. 
                  
                  They have cynically chosen to unleash some sort of big theft machine on the internet, and give no credit to those from whom they have taken images and content.
                  
                  I expect AI would create its own images by copying yours and adding extras (a purple dragon) and removing extraneous backgrounds or whatever to  make your image into AI's own image.

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                  DrMark1961posted 7 months agoin reply to this

                  I just looked at one search engine that has AI generated snippets and see that they copied several of my articles word for word. As you pointed out, that is going to be enough to satisfy most readers that just want a fast answer to their question with no extra information.

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                     Solarasposted 7 months agoin reply to this

                     Does it link to your article?

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                        DrMark1961posted 7 months agoin reply to this

                        No. Even when I do an exact word search and my article is at the top of the first page on that search engine it does not link. They just copy the wording and pass it off as their own.
                        As you so aptly put it, they really are "the big theft machine".

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                           Kenna McHughposted 7 months agoin reply to this

                           Google wants people to advertise, and it is doing whatever it can to make that happen, so much for quality, organic content.

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                           Solarasposted 7 months agoin reply to this

                           That is OBSCENE.
                           
                           No wonder Google stopped giving a sh!t about DMCA requests; they intended to be the biggest abusers of all time.
                           
                           Have you written a takedown request to Google, regarding their theft of your content, lol?  I understand some authors are suing ChatGPT for copyright infringement. 
                           
                           Perhaps TAG could make itself financially solvent again by digging into Google's deep pockets for stealing content from this site and some of TAG's other properties. The software exists on this site to ferret out all of the occurrences, perhaps with a few tweaks. .

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                              DrMark1961posted 7 months agoin reply to this

                              This was on Brave, not Google, but I am sure G is going to apply the same standards shortly.
                              I totally agree that TAG should sue and make some money off those search engines that are scraping

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   Thomas Swanposted 7 months ago

   Sounds like the end...
   
   1. All the websites that Google's AI scrapes to get its answers will die without visitors or become obsolete over time.
   2. AI will have nothing left to scrape.
   3. Unsustainable capitalism in a nutshell.

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   Venkatachari Mposted 7 months ago

   I don't think it will affect those publishers who are publishing qualitative content supported with personal experiences and research.

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   Miebakagh57posted 7 months ago

   Foolish, stupid, and thiefting AI.                                   And its search results were always top?                                       But it can't it was unable to give result for 'iria bo'.

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      Solarasposted 7 months agoin reply to this

      "Foolish, stupid, and thieving AI." LOL!!!!!

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         Miebakagh57posted 6 months agoin reply to this

         Yes, is not AI generated contents plagiarist thieft?                                           Don't anyone here ever recalled or realized that certain legal suits are currently challenging  AI generated contents?                                        What AI fish out (phishing?!) on websites (and blogs), it stupidly spin into a nonsense.                                    Seriously, whoseover here sides with AI have never had a thinking mind.

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   Rupert Taylorposted 7 months ago

   Got it Paul and Barbara. AI will ultimately start copying itself in a closed loop. Writing will become anodyne, soulless, humourless and incredibly boring.
   
   I am reminded of something Andy Rooney once said in a documentary about restaurants in the United States: "American food comes in a thousand tastes but one, identical flavour."

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      PaulGoodman67posted 7 months agoin reply to this

      It's already happened with music to some degree. Perfect drum tempos and auto-tune, plus other digital tricks rob the humanity from songs.
      
      Things are going to get much worse, I suspect.
      
      AI will analyze and work out the formulas for getting the most attention and unscrupulous people will use this to make money.
      
      Social media algorithms will seem like baby steps when we look back.

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      Solarasposted 7 months agoin reply to this

      This exactly.

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   Will Apseposted 7 months ago

   I recently searched my first serious girlfriends name online. I realize that is cyber stalking but I was drunk and sinking into near end-of-life nostalgia.
   
   Google's AI told she was a house elf at a school in the south of England. She is undoubtably a teacher but I don't remember pointy ears.
   
   I asked ChatGPT 3 what it thought of it's sibling's info. It recognised the  "'literary"' origins of the response and advised  me that inadvertent humour was a feature of chat bots.

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      PaulGoodman67posted 7 months agoin reply to this

      I wasn’t sure if you were still alive, Willl, I figured you’d given up on HP for good, not necessarily a bad decision.
      
      I think ChatGPT tends to make sh*t up, especially when it doesn’t know the answer. I think Google’s bet is that AI will rapidly improve.

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         Solarasposted 7 months agoin reply to this

         I think Google has been adjusting its algorithms specifically to improve their Chatbot for several years now.

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         Will Apseposted 7 months agoin reply to this

         These latest developments in AI really made we concerned for HP which is why I dropped by. We are living in an age where capital will increasingly dominate. Great if you are an investor. Not so great for honest labour.
         
         Best hope for a rich mama and papa on your next reboot.

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            PaulGoodman67posted 7 months agoin reply to this

            Good to hear you’re well, Will, given your dicky heart.
            
            My earnings here will be zero by the end of the year if current trends continue.
            
            The way I see it, AI hasn’t really hit yet. It’s debatable whether ChatGPT can even be called AI. It’s good at processing words and has predictive powers for constructing sentences but there’s not much “intelligence.”

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               Will Apseposted 7 months agoin reply to this

               I am currently receiving sub one hundred dollar payments. So I wouldn't be surprised by a big fat zero.

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                  PaulGoodman67posted 7 months agoin reply to this

                  In years gone by, we could look forward to the Autumn and Xmas period with an expectation of a boost in earnings, often more views too. Nowadays, it just seems like there are only drops in income, regardless of the season.
                  
                  What I thought was an abysmal figure a year ago, now seems almost good.

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                     JerryFisherposted 7 months agoin reply to this

                     So true. The first thing to go though was Amazon. I first joined HP 12 years ago or so not for the earnings at HP but the (I think at that time) 10% commission paid from Amazon, that's now dwindled down to 3% or less.

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      Solarasposted 7 months agoin reply to this

      Nice to see you Will. I was thinking about you while I was reading this thread, perhaps I willed you to respond. How are you doing?

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         Will Apseposted 7 months agoin reply to this

         I'm very lucky to be honest. Comfortable house, my wife's Thai family are remarkably decent and good natured, I haven't had any heart attacks for a few years...
         
         I was thinking of you recently too. The biggest problem where I live now (very remote, fifty years ago it was within the notorious golden triangle, lol) is the lack of work locally. So many mothers and fathers have to leave their kids with grand parents and find work in Bangkok. I was thinking of a dog breeding business. Plenty of rich folks like small lapdog type fur balls and pay huge amounts of money them.
         
         Any advice?

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            Solarasposted 7 months agoin reply to this

            Are you looking for advice on a breed or whether to get into it?

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               Will Apseposted 7 months agoin reply to this

               I expected you to say: don't do it! Glad that didn't happen, lol.
               
               If you wanted to suggest breeds I would be delighted. I have seen plenty of older ladies with a shiatsu in tow, But there are no Maltese terriers, toy poodles or Affenpinscher etc, etc, i think I would need to import them from Malaysia.
               
               We would have a vet problem (not many around locally) so hygiene and a good environment would be our best defense against catastrophe. We could probably get reasonable basic vaccinations but after that you would be on your own.
               
               I am looking for robust breeds that would fill the current vacuum of choice in small dogs.
               
               You could also tell me the biggest problems dog breeders face generally if you have the patience.
               
               It wouldn't be a breeding show dogs kind of venture. It would be a finding gainful employment sort of thing,
               
               There are so many old people and toddlers here. As one of the old people who has to look after the toddlers, it would be wonderful to have some fit youngish folks around,
               
               I have no delete on this keyboard, so might be rather garbled...

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                  Solarasposted 7 months agoin reply to this

                  You will need to research health issues on small breed dogs, and you want to stay away from large head breeds as they require c-sections ( corgies, french bulldogs etc have big geads that cant be birthed naturally) Chihuahuas are popular with asians here, maltese and shitzus. Little lion dogs are also popular. I think the Tibetan spaniel is a healthy dog. Pomeranians are mighty cute too and can be tiny.  Get a large bitch for a brood bitch and a small stud dog with all the health testing available. Embark breeders dna panels can tell you what diseases are common to breeds that can be tested for.

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                     Will Apseposted 7 months agoin reply to this

                     That is useful advice, thx. I will have to read a good deal before I try anything practical, but my experience is that ten minutes of an experts time is worth several hours of reading stuff. So thanks again.
                     
                     The Tibetan spaniel look really cute by the way and sounds like a good alternative to a Maltese (independent versus clingy).
                     
                     To everyone else... Sorry if I diverted the conversation, though anyone looking for an income in the age of AI should be avoiding anything AI can do, so it is vaguely relevant.

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                        Solarasposted 6 months agoin reply to this

                        I set up next to a gaggle of Tibetan Spaniel breeders in grooming a few years ago. They said they had terrific temperaments and were very health. They looked to be very sweet lapdogs with a merry temperament. I would consider them myself, as I am aging and running with the bcs becomes dicier

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                           DrMark1961posted 6 months agoin reply to this

                           What about a Maltese or Shihtzu with french Bulldog designer breed? Would not need excessive exericse, low prey drive, quiet when left alone....what else could this cross do?

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                              theraggededgeposted 6 months agoin reply to this

                              We have Shorkies (Shihtzu x Yorkshire Terrier). Fabulous little dogs, so affectionate and without the health issues of Shihtzies. And they are very cute little puppies. The one on the left is a mixed breed, mostly Daschund x Yorkie (Dorkie). The three have the same father but different mothers.
                              
                              

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                                 Kenna McHughposted 6 months agoin reply to this

                                 Cute!

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                                    theraggededgeposted 6 months agoin reply to this

                                    They are and nine years old now. The black one, Daisy, has never been to a vet. The Dorkie, Mitzi, has been once for a hormonal thing. The other one, Delilah, has had small tumors removed from her mammaries and we treat her with Fenbendazole (Panacur) and they haven't returned. They're unvaccinated and on a raw food diet.

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                                       Kenna McHughposted 6 months agoin reply to this

                                       It sounds like you take good care of them. A friend told me about over-vaccinating dogs and cats the other day. I found it fascinating.

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                              Solarasposted 6 months agoin reply to this

                              What else could they do?  Pass gas. Frenchies are gas machines lol. I dont know how people live with them.

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   Genna Eastposted 7 months ago

   I think that Google’s “AI” is one of the most egregious misnomers of the decade. It is a superficial, smoke n’ mirrors, crapshoot.

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      Jodahposted 7 months agoin reply to this

      I totally agree, Genna.

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      Patty Inglish, MSposted 6 months agoin reply to this

      That sounds right, Genna.

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   Will Apseposted 6 months ago

   People in this thread are not alone in feeling badly done by:
   
   https://www.bbc.com/future/article/2024 … r-internet

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      Solarasposted 6 months agoin reply to this

      It is the crime of the century.
      
      Google steals content and posts it as its own AI generated content, pushing the original article far down into the depths of the SERPs, so no one will know where the information really came from. And those websites will eventually cease to exist, as a result of lost traffic
      
      Then it fills the next slot with related questions that offer irrelevant answers.
      
      Then it provides Reddit and Quora threads that often have only one legitimate question and answer, and are filled with wise cracks and unrelated experiences of the readers.
      
      Scroll further and there are videos, images and then, finally, websites with articles on topic.
      
      There must be intent to destroy the smaller websites that Google knows from its own metrics, provide good and valuable information to the user.
      
      They steal content, destroy the little developer of the content, who has no resources to fight Google, and then can own all of our content for free.  We sat here creating content for their theft machine, for free.
      
      I have never seen a company more deserving of antitrust lawsuits,  copyright infringement lawsuits and prison time for the executives who are taking what was once a boon to mankind (the freedom of valuable information) and turning it into a cash cow and piggy bank for themselves and their shareholders, at the expense of humanity.
      
      The ultimate goal of every monopoly is to eliminate all competition, and leave themselves as the sole arbiter of price, quality and value to the consumer.

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         Will Apseposted 6 months agoin reply to this

         Late capitalism is really turning into Uranus.
         
         And here he is   
         
         
         Sorry, that is Saturn devouring his children,
         
         I'm reading newspapers less and drinking more because I loathe it all.
         
         Nice to have a chat though and thx for the advice once more, I will call round again soon.

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            PaulGoodman67posted 6 months agoin reply to this

            The "gig economy" is the "freedom" for 99% of the population to live in insecure poverty while a few are uber-wealthy.
            
            What could've brought improvements to everyone's quality of life has turned into a dystopia.
            
            It's not looking good for humanity. Feels like we're headed for techno-feudalism.
            
            Greed wins.

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         theraggededgeposted 6 months agoin reply to this

         HubPages could easily opt-out from having the whole site used by AI. At least the Google version. I've just done it on my own Insta account. Took 2 minutes.

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            Solarasposted 6 months agoin reply to this

            What would be the repercussions of opting out? Would Google punish the site further for not playing their game?

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               theraggededgeposted 6 months agoin reply to this

               I don't think HubPages could rank lower, could it?

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                  Solarasposted 6 months agoin reply to this

                  I don't know. The article Will linked to has blog publishers, who once ranked number one for various search terms, having lost 95% of their traffic, starting in 2022. Which mirrors our experience; HP is not the only site being punished by Google.
                  
                  Their rankings are replaced by big magazines articles that post banal articles at best and bad information at worst.
                  
                  So what is Google up to?  They are busy giving users a crappy experience all around, since 2022. Why?  How does that behoove them?
                  
                  Presumably their gamble on AI has earlier roots than we were aware of. Something changed at Google where freshness, original content and authority became outdated.  They still claim to care about such things, however our experience and that of the authors cited in the article linked to above are very different. 
                  
                  As a user, my experience is also that I am unable to find good information via Google easily. And the AI result they are forcing down our throats is sketchy at best.
                  
                  Google and their top advertisers are up to something nefarious.  Something that will make monopolies of information, where we will have to subscribe to every publication that is still in existence, once all the little websites are gone.  Also, they will have the ability to control "truth." If AI can invent facts and there are no websites left to contradict the AI explanation, how are the masses to find answers and solutions other than what is offered by those selling something to us, be it products, politics or historical narratives. 
                  
                  This also does not bode well for those thinking to start their own websites.  As Eugene has experienced, Google appears to have it out for the little guy.  After all, what is HP but a bunch of little guys who collectively post on a content site, and Google has despised such content farms for over a decade.
                  
                  I would really like to see a congressional hearing, with a whistleblower from Google, explaining what they are up to.

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                     PaulGoodman67posted 6 months agoin reply to this

                     The BBC article is excellent because it spells out the situation in straightforward terms that most people can understand.
                     
                     However, it has to be said that it's not presenting any new information.
                     
                     If you follow sites like SERoundtable and SEMRush, it's been clear for some time the direction that Google is heading in.
                     
                     Most writers here aren't generally interested in the techno/nerdy world of search and SEO, some express outright hostility to it. That's understandable but frustrating because the search/SEO situation has a huge effect on online writing and its viability.
                     
                     The story of recent years is clear. What is unknown is how effective AI will be at providing answers. Right now there are major problems but the gamble is that it will rapidly improve.
                     
                     Whether that matters to a platform like HP isn't clear, though, because even if you extract AI from the equation, HP has been losing out in traditional search (Google algorithms etc.) for many years and there's no sign of any improvement on that front.
                     
                     That may sound like a bleak assessment but I don't see any cause for hope currently. It may also be a reason why TAG intends to switch focus to video.

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                        Miebakagh57posted 6 months agoin reply to this

                        But why has Matt Well lately said HubPages is okay, if its that alarming?                                      The thing is that Google's Algo regularly changeth.                                        And we'll not know when another new change cometh soon.                                                Yes, it's all a business stride, competitive, and also a monopoly. The consumer or writers are the losers.

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               Miebakagh57posted 6 months agoin reply to this

               Is it compulsory for HubPages to comply with Google? Is there not an option?

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    Rupert Taylorposted 6 months ago

    You've nailed it Paul. Also, when corporate excess leads to financial difficulties, the 99% is called upon to perform a rescue.
    
    As I recently wrote in an article, "For the corporate world, capitalism is the wonder machine that solves all problems—until it doesn't. Then, socialism turns out to be the miracle cure."

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       Kenna McHughposted 6 months agoin reply to this

       Study history and you will find that "isms" don't work.

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       Patty Inglish, MSposted 6 months agoin reply to this

       Rupert - Thanks for your insight...It is perhaps like the GOP and Dems having attempted to "cure" each prior administration of the opposing party since Kennedy was assassinated.

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    Miebakagh57posted 6 months ago

    Purposeful stealing. That's the mission of AI.                                     I beg no come near am oh!

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