AI will summarize Google news. Sites will continue lose traffic

Google has begun testing an AI-powered feature to automatically summarize news stories in the Discover mobile feed for iOS and Android.

In the current version of Discover, users only see the headline, image, and source name. As part of the test, some users have begun to notice short AI-powered tips below headlines. These texts are generated based on information from multiple sources and provide a generalized idea of ​​the topic without requiring a link.

What’s changing for readers and media

For users, the innovation can make it easier to familiarize themselves with the content of the materials, especially in situations where context is important, not details.

However, for news sites, such automation can be a problem: if the user gets the main information directly in the feed, they are less likely to click through to the source site. And this already leads to the fact that sites do not receive enough traffic, so some of the information from them is displayed as an AI answer in search results.

Other interface updates

In addition to AI suggestions, Google has changed the location of the “Save” button, which adds a publication to the reading list. It is now available directly from the main Discover screen, without having to open an additional menu. This change is designed to simplify navigation and make saving materials more convenient.

It is not yet known when (and if at all) the new functionality will be available to a wide audience. Google traditionally tests such changes on a limited group of users as part of experiments.