Generative AI in Google search engine will be released in 120 countries, but not in the EU – Computer – News


Google is releasing the major AI upgrade for its search engine, Search Generative Experience, in 120 countries. For now, it remains a test for people who choose to do so. There are no countries from the European Union among those countries.

The search function is therefore not yet available in the Netherlands or Belgium. Google says no why it does not release its SGE in Europe, but this probably has to do with European legislation regarding data processing. It is unknown if and when the AI ​​upgrade for the search engine will be released in the EU. SGE is part of Search Labs, which allows users to try new features and Google collects feedback. That’s opt-in.

The relationship between generative AI and EU regulations is still unclear. The Dutch The Dutch Data Protection Authority also requested clarification to OpenAI about the processing of personal data in ChatGPT. ChatGPT was briefly unavailable in Italy this spring due to privacy concerns. Bard arrived in the Netherlands only released months after its American release and later than Google would have liked.

The SGE also has a few upgrades. This makes it easier to ask follow-up questions to the search engine if users want more details about an answer. Moreover, if a word has multiple meanings, the translation function will ask which meaning the user means. For now, this will only work from English to Spanish in the US, but should come to more languages.

With SGE the search engine gets a large snippet with generative AI under sponsored results or at the top. There will also be a way to chat with the search engine for follow-up questions based on the result. The snippet can also be made larger to see more information. SGE’s test lasts until December. Google has not yet said what happens next. A release for the general public will probably follow.