Google Tests AI-Powered Article Summaries in Google News
▼ Summary
– Google is piloting AI-powered article overviews on participating publishers’ Google News pages to provide users with more context before clicking.
– Participating publishers, including major outlets like The Guardian and The Washington Post, will receive direct payments from Google to offset potential traffic loss from fewer clicks.
– The AI overviews will only appear on those specific publishers’ Google News pages and not in general Search or other parts of Google News.
– As part of the same program, Google is also experimenting with audio briefings for users who prefer listening to news.
– Google announced the global rollout of its “Preferred Sources” feature, allowing users to select favorite news sites to appear in Top Stories.
Google is currently running a pilot program that introduces AI-generated article overviews within the Google News pages of participating publishers. This initiative aims to provide readers with more immediate context about a story before they decide to click through to the full article. The company states this collaborative effort with news organizations is designed to explore how artificial intelligence can help cultivate more engaged audiences, though it acknowledges the potential for these summaries to reduce direct website traffic.
A select group of major international publications are part of this commercial test, including outlets like The Guardian, The Washington Post, Der Spiegel, and The Times of India. In a notable arrangement, these publishers will receive direct payments from Google, which is intended to offset any possible decline in clicks originating from the news platform. For now, these AI-powered summaries will appear exclusively on the dedicated Google News pages of these partners and will not be featured in general Search results.
This move represents an expansion of Google’s experimentation with AI for news digestion. Earlier this year, the company integrated similar AI summaries into its Discover feed, replacing a single headline with a synthesized summary that cites multiple sources. The latest pilot also explores audio briefings for users who prefer to listen to news content. Google emphasizes that all these features will include clear attribution and links to the original articles, ensuring source visibility.
Concurrently, Google is rolling out several other news-related features globally. Its “Preferred Sources” option, which lets users select favorite news sites to prioritize in Top Stories search results, is now expanding worldwide after initial launches in the U.S. and India. Furthermore, the company plans to highlight links from a user’s personal news subscriptions within a dedicated section of the Gemini app. Additional updates include increasing the number of inline source links in AI Mode and adding “contextual introductions” to explain why a cited link might be valuable.
While these tools offer personalized convenience, they also raise questions about the creation of informational “filter bubbles,” where users might see less diverse perspectives. Google states it is working with a broad range of publishers and creators to refine these products as news consumption habits continue to change.
(Source: TechCrunch)
