Google acknowledged the “odd and erroneous overviews” and announced updates to the product [File] | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Google’s parent company, Alphabet, announced on Thursday that it is expanding its AI-generated summaries for search queries to six new countries, just two months after rolling back some capabilities due to issues during the initial launch.

The AI Overviews feature, which displays summaries at the top of search results before traditional links, was made available to all U.S. users in May after a year of limited trials.

However, the feature faced criticism when factually inaccurate answers surfaced online, including a pizza recipe that incorrectly listed glue as an ingredient and a claim that former U.S. President Barack Obama is Muslim.

In response, Google acknowledged the “odd and erroneous overviews” and released updates in late May, which included restrictions on the types of queries that would display AI answers and limited the use of user-generated content from platforms like Reddit as sources.

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Hema Budaraju, a senior director of product at Google, stated in an interview with Reuters, “I have enough evidence to say that quality is only improving.” She highlighted internal data showing that users with access to the feature reported higher satisfaction levels and engaged in longer, more specific searches compared to those without access.

The AI Overviews feature is now being introduced in Brazil, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, and Britain, with support for local languages such as Portuguese and Hindi.

Additionally, Google is enhancing the feature by adding more hyperlinks, which will be displayed alongside the AI-generated answers.

The company is also testing an update that would incorporate links directly within the text of the overview, aiming to “prioritize approaches that drive traffic to relevant websites,” as mentioned in a blog post on Thursday.

These updates come amid ongoing concerns from the media industry about the potential impact of AI-generated search features on referral traffic to their sites. Budaraju emphasized that the new update would provide a “three-way benefit” for Google, consumers, and publishers.

Recently, a U.S. judge ruled that Google holds an illegal monopoly on search, paving the way for a trial that could lead to the breakup of Alphabet. Furthermore, advancements in AI from competitors like Microsoft-backed OpenAI pose an even greater threat.