Google announced the expansion of AI Overviews to more than 100 countries on Monday. The feature, which offers a brief overview of the searched query using artificial intelligence (AI) was earlier limited to a few territories. However, the Mountain View-based tech giant is now pushing to a wider user base with this update. The company highlighted that it is the feature's largest expansion drive since launch. Notably, last month a report claimed that AI Overviews began showing ads to some users at the bottom of the interface.
Google Expands AI Overviews to More Than 100 Countries
In a blog post, the tech giant detailed the expansion move. AI Overviews was released to the public in May. However, it was available to beta testers in 2023 as the Search Generative Experience (SGE). At launch, Google changed the branding of the feature to introduce the new name.
Google said that starting this week, AI Overviews will become available in more than 100 countries and be accessible in more languages than before. Earlier, it was only available in English, but now the feature also supports Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish. This means AI Overviews will activate even when a query is not asked in the English language.
After the expansion, Google believes the feature will reach a user base of more than one billion globally. The feature was likely expanded as the tech giant now plans to earn revenue through it. Last month, several users spotted seeing ads at the bottom of the AI Overviews interface.
Google said that ads will continue to appear in dedicated slots with “clear labelling to distinguish between organic and sponsored results.” While the rest of the world will see ads only on the browser, the tech giant is now rolling out ads to mobile devices in the US as well. This is being done “so we can better connect people with the products and brands that are helpful to their searches,” the post added.
Notably, the tech giant introduced better transparency with AI Overviews recently. The feature now shows a clear link icon on display highlighting the source of the information. The company said this way the source websites will also get increased traffic.
