With SGE, users in Africa will now see an AI-powered overview of key information to consider at the top of results to a search query on Google, with links to dig deeper...
Starting yesterday, Google rolled out its Search Generative Experience (SGE) to users in the Sub-Sahara Africa region as an opt-in experiment in Search Labs. According to an announcement by the tech giant, the AI-powered experience is only available in English for now.
With the new generative AI feature, Google is bringing these powerful new capabilities to its Search platform in a way that will make it easier for users to get information and process it.
At a press event, the company assured that it has trained the models used in SGE to uphold Search’s high bar for quality, which it will continue to improve over time. These hallmark systems have been fine-tuned for decades, but will also have additional guardrails, like limiting the types of queries where generative AI capabilities will appear.
Speaking on the new feature, Google’s General Manager for Search in Africa, Wambui Kinya, highlights the value that the new generative AI brings:
“With new generative AI capabilities in Search, we’re now taking more of the work out of searching. We’re imagining a supercharged Search that does the heavy lifting for you so you’ll be able to understand a topic faster, uncover new viewpoints and insights, and get things done more easily.”
“This Search Generative Experience is the first step we’re taking in this journey, and part of our vision to make Search radically more helpful. We’re excited to bring this to the SSA region, and look forward to receiving feedback and iterating on the experience alongside our users over the next few months”, she concludes.
What is new with Google’s SGE?
With SGE, users in Africa will now see an AI-powered overview of key information to consider at the top of results to a search query on Google, with links to dig deeper. For anyone who has ever been overwhelmed by the amount of information online, this will help find answers more quickly.
An AI-powered snapshot provides key information to consider and links to dig deeper.
Also, context will be carried over from question to question, to help users more naturally continue their exploration. Right under the snapshot, you’ll see the option to ‘ask a follow-up’ question or select a suggested next step.
Tapping any of these options will bring users into a new conversational mode.
For instance, with a question like “Does Honey ever Spoil?” Normally, you might break this question down into smaller ones, sort through the vast amount of information available, and then start to piece things together yourself. With generative AI, Search can do some of that heavy lifting.
SGE first delivers an overview, and beneath this, users will see suggested next steps where they can simply tap a query like “What is the oldest honey ever eaten?”, or type in a specific follow-up question. This conversational experience enables people to intuitively learn more about the topic they’re exploring.
Also with SGE, Google is showing more links, and links to a wider range of sources on the results page, creating new opportunities for content to be discovered.
In this new generative experience, Search ads will continue to appear in dedicated ad slots throughout the page. Google will continue to uphold its commitment to ad transparency and make sure ads are distinguishable from organic search results.
When Search ads do appear, they will have transparent ad labels with the “Sponsored” label in bold black text.
How to start
For users in Africa, beginning yesterday, Google SGE is available in Search Labs on Chrome desktop and on the latest version of the Google App on Android and iOS. Simply tap the Labs icon in the Google app or Chrome desktop to begin.
Access through the Google app will be enabled over the coming week. Users in Africa can opt-in to try it out and share feedback directly with the teams working on it.