Google updates AI search to include ‘expert advice’ from Reddit and other web forums

Google is updating Search to improve its AI experience by adding additional context to links, such as conversations from web forums, as well as a feature that highlights links from user news subscriptions.

While citing web forums and discussion boards can help users find answers to more specialized queries, this design choice can also be messy.

Two years ago, Google overhauled its search experience to put AI front and center — when you search for something, Google often calls up “AI overview,” which sparked mixed responses from users. People were quick to point out how this feature was exploited, because it failed to recognize sarcasm or information coming from questionable sources. (He mentioned that Onions When I asked someone to eat “one small stone a day,” and used Reddit to advise someone to put glue on their pizza to make the cheese stick better).

Although the overview of Google’s AI has improved significantly, it is still – like anything powered by an LLM – vulnerable to hallucinations. A recent New York Times analysis found that its AI overview was correct about nine times out of 10. But for a company that processes trillions of queries a year, that success rate means hundreds of thousands of searches turn up inaccurate results every minute.

Of course, not every search has an objective yes or no answer, which is why Google might want to pull votes from web forums where people discuss such questions — there’s a reason people often add “Reddit” to the end of their Google searches.

“For many searches, people are increasingly looking for advice from others,” Google explains. “To help you find the most useful ideas to explore further, AI responses will now include a preview of views from online public discussions, social media, and other direct sources. We’re also adding more context to these links, such as creator name, handle, or community name, to help you identify discussions you might want to read or participate in.”

But now Google is complicating the role of its AI reviews. Is the AI ​​overview supposed to answer a question, or is it supposed to give you a variety of sources that might contain the information you’re looking for? Isn’t this basically just a regular Google search?

Google will, at the very least, add more context to where the AI ​​Overview comment is coming from, which could help users decipher whether they’re getting information from a trustworthy source. It’s similar to how ChatGPT or Claude sometimes provides links that are supposed to support their claims.

However, we recommend double-checking that the AI ​​is not hallucinating the validity of these citations.