Google LLC today rolled out a number of improvements to its experimental Search Generative Experience, or SGE, a new version of its search engine that uses generative artificial intelligence to enhance its results.

SGE is a version of the company’s search engine that adds a new panel to query results pages. The panel appears above search results and contains AI-generated text. Today’s updates include more images and videos to go with its explanations, plus a reduction in the time it takes to generate overviews of whatever topics users are searching for.

It was launched in May and is accessible via its Search Labs early access program only. Users can sign up to participate by clicking the Labs button in Google’s mobile app and Chrome Beta, a version of Chrome that provides access to upcoming features. There is a bit of a waiting list, though, with the company promising to notify users by email when they receive access to the program.

If a user searches for information about a certain travel destination, the SGE panel can provide a detailed natural language overview of the location. Moreover, it lists the websites from which the information was sourced. A shortcut below the text enables users to ask AI-suggested follow-up questions or write their own.

Hema Budaraju, senior director of product management at Google Search, explained that many people find it easier to understand something when they see it, rather than by reading about it. To cater to these people, Google is adding images and videos to its generative AI-powered overviews.

Going forward, if a user searches for something like, “What is the tiniest bird of prey?” SGE will display an image of what that bird looks like and provide more relevant information from the Web. Soon, it will start adding videos to the overviews in cases where it thinks it might be more helpful to show something in motion, such as a demonstration of a yoga pose or how to clean a difficult stain.

The second update announced today is more incremental. Budaraju said Google has upgraded SGE’s generative powers to deliver overviews faster. It can now generate AI overviews in half the time it originally took, and it continues to work on improving this further.

Finally, Google is adding “publish dates” to the links that show up in SGE’s results. As Budaraju explains, SGE is mainly designed as a jumping-off point, helping users to find more helpful information on the Web. That’s why it always posts links to its search results below the AI overviews.

“To help you better understand how recent the information is from these web pages, we recently added publish dates to links,” Budaraju said. “And we’re continuing to experiment with new, easier ways for people to find web pages that support information in AI overviews.”

Image: Google