Google's New Search Model Released In U.K.

Google is releasing a new tool in the U.K. that will generate results using artificial intelligence (AI), in a significant shake-up to the world's most popular search engine.

Instead of a list of search results showing links to other websites in blue type, people who choose "AI Mode" will be given an answer written in a conversational style, containing far fewer links to other pages.

The new search tool will not replace Google's existing search platform, which processes billions of queries every day.

But experts predict such tools will increasingly incorporate AI, a shift that is concerning organisations, firms and publishers, which rely on search traffic.

Businesses ranging from retailers to news outlets are currently supported by web traffic funnelled their way from Google's search results.

Firms can also pay for prime spots on the results lists, as a form of advertising.

A shift towards AI-generated responses, containing fewer direct links, could up-end that model.

The Daily Mail claims the number of people who click its links from Google search results has fallen by around 50 percent on both desktop and mobile traffic since Google introduced its AI Overview feature, which summarises results.

Hema Budaraju, Google's product manager for search, said the firm had not yet finalized how advertising revenue for AI Mode would work, or whether firms would be able to pay to be included in the response.

But it is already concerning some businesses, who say people are less likely to click through to their websites via the links contained in an AI summary.

Budaraju disagreed with this characterization.

"I would say that I think people are going to use these technologies to unlock newer information-seeking journeys," she said.

"These kind of questions didn't happen before, and now you made it really possible for people to express anything a lot more naturally."

A new Pew Research Center report found that users who receive an AI summary after their search click on a traditional result almost 50 percent less (8 percent of the time, compared to 15 percent). On top of that, only one percent of users clicked on the link provided within the AI summary. This pattern can cause problems both for website traffic and for ensuring that AI-generation information is accurate.