Google’s AI Overviews, introduced in 2024, are set to become increasingly prominent in the future. Initially facing challenges, including the delivery of inaccurate and potentially harmful information, the tool has persisted and evolved. It started as a US-only feature but has since extended its reach to over 100 countries and territories worldwide. The first phase focused on broadening availability, and now the second phase is geared toward enhancing functionality.
As part of this effort, Google has been working on a feature that would enable users to select excerpts from generated AI Overviews to obtain more detailed information. This functionality aims to refine user searches by allowing them to generate a new AI Overview based on their selected text. Although this feature has not fully rolled out yet, there are indications that Google is close to making it available. Reports suggest that it is currently being tested with a select group of users, incorporating additional controls to enhance the experience.
Importantly, this new option for narrowing down AI Overviews appears to be designed exclusively for mobile devices. When first discovered, the feature would activate automatically when users highlighted a portion of the Overview text. Now, Google seems to be providing users with more control over this interaction. Once implemented, selecting text within a generated AI Overview will reveal a new user interface occupying about a quarter of the bottom screen.
This interface will introduce three buttons: **Explain this**, **Related images**, and **Copy Text**. The Related Images section is a brand-new feature, while the Explain and Copy options have been streamlined for easier access. Overall, while still in limited testing, recent developments suggest that these enhancements could soon be rolled out to a broader audience, making the AI Overviews tool more functional and user-friendly.
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