Google recently ran into trouble with its AI Overviews feature after it reportedly started showing incorrect and useless answers for search queries. The tech giant also released a statement claiming that it was working on addressing the issues. Now, a new report has found that AI Overviews’ visibility has plummeted, with it only appearing for 15 percent of searches. Additionally, the artificial intelligence feature reportedly only appears in a truncated format most of the time.
Google’s AI Reports Show Sharp Drop in Visibility
According to a report According to enterprise SEO platform BrightEdge, the decline in the appearance of AI summaries in Google search results began in mid-April. Currently, the AI feature is said to be appearing for only 15 percent of searches. In addition to the decline in appearance, the report also found that the majority of AI-collected answers are being displayed in a truncated format, where a collapsed view of the answer can be seen.
The decline in visibility is even more pronounced when compared to the feature’s pre-release appearance. Before its official launch at Google I/O, AI Overview, then known as Search Generated Experience (SGE) and an opt-in feature, appeared in 84 percent of searches, according to the report. A likely reason for the decreased visibility is believed to be recent issues with the AI feature.
Google’s AI reports criticized for hallucinations
Google launched AI Overviews in the US for all users in early May, and shortly after, some users began reporting incorrect and strange answers to some searches. For example, an X (formerly known as Twitter) user Posted screenshots where the AI suggested using non-toxic glue on the sauce when searching for “cheese doesn’t stick to pizza”. In the days that followed, many users experienced similar issues with the feature.
Last week, the tech giant responded to the criticism, claiming it was “working quickly to address these issues, either through improvements to our algorithms or established processes to remove comments that don’t comply with our policies.” A separate report also claimed that Google was manually disabling AI summaries for web queries.
