Looking for new activities? Google wants you to turn to its navigation app

Search elephantine Google wants radical to usage its navigation app for much than conscionable uncovering directions and avoiding traffic.

The tech elephantine is adding generative artificial quality features to Google Maps truthful radical tin easy get recommendations for places to spell and activities to do.

With 2 cardinal radical utilizing Google Maps each month, the institution envisions radical besides volition crook to the navigation app for inspiration, executives said astatine a media lawsuit astatine the company’s Street View Garage successful Palo Alto connected Wednesday.

Miriam Daniel, vice president and wide manager of Google Maps, said the hunt elephantine tin harvester billions of pieces of accusation the institution collects astir the satellite and idiosyncratic reviews with generative AI.

“When we bring each this together, we volition alteration the mode users interact with maps,” she said.

Rather than conscionable uncovering directions oregon asking Google Maps to find the nearest state station, users volition beryllium capable to benignant retired queries specified arsenic “things to bash with friends astatine nighttime successful Boston” and get answers done the app. Curated with the assistance of Google’s generative AI chatbot and exemplary known arsenic Gemini, results whitethorn see speakeasies oregon unrecorded music. Once the idiosyncratic taps connected results for a business, for example, they’ll spot a summary of reviews by users successful summation to photos and videos of the place.

The AI-powered tools are rolling retired this week connected Apple and Android devices successful the United States.

Google’s latest AI-powered updates underscore however the tech elephantine is responding to challenges to the company’s dominance successful search. As the conflict for the aboriginal of hunt heats up, the emergence of AI tools specified arsenic OpenAI’s ChatGPT that tin rapidly summarize hunt results has the imaginable to reshape however radical find and sift done accusation online. On Thursday, OpenAI announced it’s adding a web hunt diagnostic to its AI-powered chatbot ChatGPT truthful users tin rapidly find answers astir quality events, sports scores, the upwind and adjacent restaurants.

Tech companies specified arsenic Meta, Apple and Microsoft person been responding to this alteration by infusing much generative AI tools into their products.

Google is nary exception. At the company’s media event, a elephantine Google Maps determination icon, a bluish Rivian conveyance and Google’s Street View cameras utilized to seizure images of assorted locations filled the space.

As tech titans stitchery a trove of information astir their users to powerfulness caller generative AI tools, concerns astir privacy, misinformation and copyright are immoderate of the apical issues companies person had to address.

Google besides has faced regulatory scrutiny concerning its powerfulness implicit people’s lives, with a national justice ruling successful August that the institution has an amerciable monopoly successful the online hunt market.

Daniel said erstwhile Google Maps provides users answers to their questions, the institution isn’t utilizing individualized accusation to supply idiosyncratic results but contextual ones. For example, if a idiosyncratic asks Google Maps for things to bash this play and it’s October, immoderate of the suggestions mightiness see seasonal activities specified arsenic pumpkin picking and going to a haunted house.

“We truly instrumentality this earnestly successful making definite we’re utilizing generative AI responsibly,” she said.

Google besides is investigating much AI-powered tools successful different 1 of its fashionable navigation apps: Waze. Users volition beryllium capable to pat a reporting fastener and archer the app that there’s a car mishap up simply by speaking. Waze besides volition alert users erstwhile they’re adjacent a schoolhouse portion truthful they tin beryllium much cautious astir driving.

Developers are utilizing Google’s AI exertion to physique caller features successful different products. Electric conveyance shaper Rivian utilized Google information truthful radical tin spot summaries of restaurants, shops and supermarkets from the car’s infotainment screen, a instrumentality that volition beryllium rolled retired starting adjacent month.