Commentary

Okay Google, Show Me Audio And Visuals

Google has added 3D support to search results -- and has announced updates to News, added features in Google Lens, and brought Lens into Google Go.

On Tuesday at the Google I/O summit, the company described how 3D -- with the help of artificial intelligence -- will allow people who are querying objects to see them as three-dimensional on the screen.

There is no word yet on whether the company plans to add this feature into text ads -- but those searching for more information about lions and tigers, for example, will get an option to view the object as a 3D image in the Knowledge Panel, which serves up to the right of the search query with assistance from AR.

Aparna Chennapragada, VP of Google Lens and AR, wrote in a blog post that the feature in search will roll out later this month.

“People have already asked Google Lens more than a billion questions about things they see,” she wrote. Lens taps into machine learning (ML), computer vision and tens of billions of facts in the Knowledge Graph to answer these questions. Now, we’re evolving Lens to provide more visual answers to visual questions.”

advertisement

advertisement

Chennapragada cited an interesting example of Lens supporting restaurants. The technology will automatically highlight the popular dishes in an online menu. When the person taps on a dish in the online menu they will see it in 3D, along with photos and reviews from Google Maps. 

It’s about 3D modeling for brands. NASA, New Balance, Samsung, Target, Visible Body, Volvo, Wayfair and other brands are working with Google to serve their own content in search when shopping or looking for more information about a topic.

Google also plans to bring Duplex to the web to help people complete tasks after searching the web such as buying movie tickets or making a reservation to rent a car when traveling.

To make a car reservation, Duplex pulls information from the person’s calendar to determine their next trip. Then it navigates to a preferred car rental website based on the searcher’s preferences. It navigates through car preferences and car payment information, and an autofill feature pulls from the person’s calendar and Gmail account.

The feature will roll out later this year in English.

Updates also will be made to the Top Stories section in Google News, which will serve up the most authoritative stories on a topic that was searched on as well as share information about the topic, the story timeline, and any relevant podcasts.

Those searching the web will have an option to listen to the podcast directly in Google’s Search results, or save an episode to listen to later.

The ability to search within the podcast will be coming soon.

Next story loading loading..