Google is now opening Search Labs to the public, bringing AI to Search

At Google I/O 2023, all the company could talk about was generative AI and large language models. One of the star announcements of the event was the official confirmation that LLMs are coming to Google Search. Google showed off how it would work and said it would be available soon.

As it turns out, “soon” was much sooner than we thought. Starting today, people who live in the United States can opt-in to try out Google SGE — Seacrh Generative Experience — through the new Search Labs. This will allow you to try out this new way of “Googling it.”

Google has given Android Authority access to this new feature. We will have an experience-focused article about it later today.

Google SGE: How it works and how you can try it

For the full demo on Google SGE, we recommend rewatching the Google I/O 2023 keynote. In summary, when you use Google Search to look for certain topics, you’ll be presented with a new interface allowing you to go on a “search journey.” You can communicate with Search using natural language, and your searches can be more complex.

In other words, instead of Googling “best e-bike” you could instead Google “best e-bike in red for mostly flat surfaces and at an affordable price point.” The new LLM-based Search will understand this complex query and show you unique results. You can then ask follow-up questions as if you were speaking to a human.

Google SGE will not work for some queries, though. Google told us that medical questions would, quite obviously, not trigger SGE. Instead, those and other off-limits queries will stick with the traditional Google Search engine.

To try out SGE, you’ll need to opt-in to Search Labs and be located in the US. Click that link to sign up and then wait for an email notification that you’re in. Once you are, you’ll be able to follow the tutorial GIF above to try out SGE either in the Google App or on the desktop version of Google Chrome.