Google Is Testing AI Article Overviews on Google News Pages for Different Publishers
Google has begun its latest AI experiment in news information discovery by adding AI-created overviews in Google News for some publishers. This features provides a concise summary of articles and is aimed at providing a pre-article overview for readers before they click through to the full articles.
Given the increasing velocity with which digital news is being consumed, Google states that the purpose of this experiment is to assist users in making discernment in what they choose to engage with in reading. The company is adding AI-generated articles in the hope of decreasing ambiguity, conserving time, and enhancing the users experience of Google News.
This latest experiment is part of a broader strategy where Google intends to integrate the use of AI in its systems and services while considering the publishers and the readers.
What Are AI Article Overviews in Google News?
AI articles overview consists of a few of line summary that is automatically produced by AI which is presented next to or above certain news articles in Google News. This summary is intended to furnish the readers with a succinct articulation of the article’s subject matter and principal ideas while preserving the original article.
AI overviews differ significantly from standard excerpts taken from various paragraphs.
They are:
Organized logically.
Maintain a neutral point of view.
Concentrate on the most relevant details and background.
This functionality allows users to quickly determine if a story is of interest to them before they view it.
How the Feature Functions
Google employs cutting-edge natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning techniques to evaluate articles from the chosen publishers. After the tool has processed an article, it creates a synopsis that encapsulates the article’s main points.
This involves:
Analyzing the article using AI technology.
Extracting context from the entire document.
Creating a summary in clear language.
Presenting it on Google News while crediting the publisher appropriately.
Google News retains a visible hyperlink to the article and encourages users to access the complete article on the publisher’s website.
Why Google is Examining AI Article Summaries
Google states that the aim of this testing is to enhance user experience and interaction. News articles published each day are considerable in number and it can be rather difficult for readers to determine which articles are most valuable to them.
The AI overview feature effectively solves this issue by:
Offering quick understanding.
Minimizing irrelevant clicks.
Assisting users in navigating intricate subjects.
Facilitating the discovery of content.
This strategy is indicative of Google’s view that users are more likely to interact with valuable journalism if they are well-informed.
The Difference between Overviews by AI and News Snippets
AI article overviews stand apart from news snippets and meta descriptions.
Feature Meta Description AI Article Overview
Origin Selected text from an article Analysis of an entire article
Form Loose synopsis Well structured summary
Goals Preview contextualization Understand contextualization
Personalization None AI personalized
This explains why AI overviews are more useful than simple previews to readers seeking clarity.
Current Testing Phase and Availability
The feature providing AI overviews of articles is:
An Open Test with Select Publishers
Visible to a Few Users
In an Experimental Process
Google has not confirmed whether this feature is a test or will be offered to all users worldwide. Publisher and user feedback will be vital to determining the feature’s future.
Industry Affected and Impact Publisher
Although Google has promoted this feature as beneficial to users, it has raised concern from the publishing industry.
Potential Value:
Well.-Qualitified Traffic
Increased Transparency Resulting in Trust
Higher Reader Engagement
Potential Risks:
Users over the snap summary of articles
Less page views
Impacting Revenue
These concerns are a continuation of the discussions around the AI use within the content news and search.
Concerns from Publishers and Google’s Response
From Google’s point of view, AI-generated summary features are not a threat to journalism. Google states that:
Publisher identities are easily identifiable
All articles are one clicked away
Overviews are designed to facilitate active reading.
Google claims that users who click to read the full article after reading a summary are to stay on the page and engage with it.
Google’s AI Strategy Focus
This experiment is part of a larger AI initiative at Google which includes:
AI generated summary of searches
News briefings are read using AI
Recommendations of content
Together these demonstrate Google’s vision of a world where information can be accessed quickly and easily through the AI system without removing the original content.
For users of the news, the summary of articles provides:
Ability to scan information quickly
Ability to process complex information
Reduces cognitive load
AI-generated summaries cannot and should not replace original journalism, rigorous investigative work, and skilled critique. The purpose of a summary is to encourage reading of the entire article for a fuller understanding.
Competitive user experience enhancement will lead to greater amounts of the automation of AI summaries for news articles. The automation of summaries will expose publishers to the risks of news articles summaries improving news literacy and discovery. The following will present major challenges that the automation of summaries creates for publishers:
Convinience vs. content value
Automation vs. editorial control
Speed vs. accuracy
It is the hope of publishers that automation can be utilized responsibly and publishers can be kept whole.
Conclusion
Concern with the automation of summaries led Google to trial the automation of summaries of news articles from Google News. Google hopes to improve the news browsing experience for users. The ability to contextualize the news articles that users will be able to click will quickly improve the experience of news browsing.
No one knows how Google’s trial will impact the future of news browsing. Regardless of whether the impact is positive or negative, the trial is one of the first to utilize automation to aid people in the browsing of news. The trial absolves news publishers from the fear that their work is being undervalued.