AI + ML<\/p>\n
Just like in The Truman Show<\/p>\n
Google\u2019s AI-powered transformation of its search engine will give the mega company a more captive audience than ever before – and what better way to turn those eyeballs into cash than by serving up new forms of AI-powered ads?<\/p>\n
Announcements out of the Chocolate Factory\u2019s I\/O AI fest continued Wednesday with the premiere<\/a> of what the company called \u201ca new generation of ads\u201d tailor-made \u201cfor the AI era of Search\u201d that it decided you definitely need earlier this week.\u00a0<\/p>\n As we mentioned in our earlier I\/O coverage<\/a>, Google announced what Search VP Elizabeth Reid called the \u201cbiggest upgrade in over 25 years\u201d to Google Search. Those changes center on pushing Gemini 3.5 Flash deeper into Search and AI Mode, giving the engine the ability to \u201canticipate your intent\u201d and surface more detailed AI-generated responses.<\/p>\n That doesn\u2019t mean AI Mode is being made the default, mind you. Google told The Register that standard search engine result pages are still going to be the default for anyone doing a typical Google search, though AI responses will be served alongside results, we\u2019re told. Any web search that returns an AI Overview, on the other hand, will include an option to follow up with the Overview in AI Mode, and AI Mode with rich content input can be selected from the Search box as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s here that Google\u2019s beefing up its AI, letting it do the searching for you and surface whatever it\u2019s been programmed to prioritize in a manner designed to keep you from clicking away<\/a>, enabling Google to hand you more profit-generating content \u2026 er, helpful results. Those results will include \u201cmore helpful ads,\u201d which will come in two varieties: Conversational Discovery ads, and Highlighted Answers.<\/p>\n Regarding the Conversational Discovery ads, Gemini\u2019s responses to specific questions will build ads \u201ctailored to that search, highlighting specific relevant features.\u201d Google cites the example of someone searching for a way to make their house smell fresher. Results for such a search could recommend deodorizing your house using, say, a $1 box of baking soda mixed with water or a simple 1:1 vinegar\/water mix – or it could tell you how much you need a $20 reed diffuser, electric wax melter, or some other expensive product Google\u2019s getting paid to flog.\u00a0<\/p>\n Highlighted Answers, on the other hand, means \u201chighly relevant, high-quality ads are eligible to appear\u201d on lists of recommendations delivered by AI Mode. What meets that threshold wasn\u2019t mentioned, but Google told us that it\u2019s using similar standards to its existing ad filtering, and the same auction mechanics to get the ads in front of eyeballs.\u00a0<\/p>\n Brands approved for Highlighted Answers will have their recommendations inserted into the end of AI Mode results, Google explained. The feature is currently in testing, with Google telling us it wants its placement to feel natural and add value to users’ searches.\u00a0<\/p>\n Of course, just because the standard Google Search mode isn\u2019t going away, contrary to the panic that Google\u2019s announcements triggered this week, that doesn\u2019t mean Google isn\u2019t stuffing more AI ads into those results, too. <\/p>\n AI-powered shopping ads that use Gemini to \u201cpull up your most relevant products and instantly write a custom explainer highlighting why your product may be the right choice\u201d are coming to Google\u2019s standard search results pages in the coming months, as is the ability to \u201cput a smart brand agent right inside your ad.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Those ads, for example, could be a chat window that provides answers on the content of a website, Google explained, \u201cturning a practical interaction into a valuable lead.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Google said that it\u2019s also expanding its Direct Offers<\/a> program that allows retailers to offer user-tailored discounts and offers on products purchased via Gemini, giving brands more ways to motivate consumers to buy whatever they\u2019re flogging without customers ever leaving Google\u2019s ecosystem.\u00a0<\/p>\n Businesses that want to use these new AI advertising features will be encouraged to build campaigns around Google\u2019s AI Max and Performance Max ad tools, naturally ensuring the Chocolate Factory keeps collecting its cut as it pushes advertisers deeper into the AI era of Search.<\/p>\n Google assured us that people actually do want this, and that they really are gravitating toward AI experiences delivered through Google, even though they\u2019re not always optional<\/a>. The Chocolate Factory further told us that, despite ads featuring prominently across its various AI tools, ads never impact organic results. They\u2019re just buried behind an ever-growing wall of AI schlock<\/a> one has to weed through to find actual search results, and now even more ads. \u00ae<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AI + ML Just like in The Truman Show Google\u2019s AI-powered transformation of its search engine will give…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":597431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[554,733,4308,86,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-597430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/597431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}