Google Search adds images and video as well as source links in its generative AI snapshots

Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE), which is a part of the company’s Labs experiment right now and introduces AI-based “snapshots” as results for your search query, is introducing some nice little upgrades.

First up is the inclusion of photos and videos in said snapshots. As shown below in an image captured by Android Police, pictures of cute kittens now accompany a search about them, which makes all of that boring text above it more “awe” inspiring.

Additionally, Google is improving its practice of crediting sources – something its competition like Bing has already done. From now on, the tech giant will clearly indicate where the information originated, displaying their commitment to transparency and respect for intellectual property (Yes, it felt weird to write that part). It’s worth noting that the experience didn’t launch that long ago, but to not include sources from the get-go is kind of odd.

Lastly, Google shared that it’s managed to increase the speed of its AI snapshot generation. According to the SearchLiaison Twitter account, the process is now twice as quick compared to two weeks ago. My hope is that in the near future we get a more conversational Bard-style integration with SGE.

Two weeks ago, we started opening up access to SGE. Since then, we’ve made a number of quality updates, including a major improvement that reduces the time it takes to generate AI snapshots by half! We hope everyone testing it out enjoys the speedier experience. If you haven’t…

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) June 8, 2023

Compared to Bing and ChatGPT, it’s pretty boring and unhelpful to talk to Google Search, and while I understand SGE is meant to primarily generate links like a standard search with a bit of smart text thrown in, it wouldn’t kill to make it more personable and give direct answers, especially now that it provides linked sources for its efforts.