Google says its new AI-powered search update is a 'huge step forward'

Google is injecting its search engine with new technology to better interpret the billions of web queries it handles every day, a change top executives say is one of the most significant in the company's history. This shift, announced Friday, moves the world's biggest search engine from spitting out results based on keywords to "something closer to language," according to Ben Gomes, the search chief for Alphabet Inc.'s Google. "We're very far from solving the problem fully, but this is a huge step forward," he said at a press briefing. Google has no peers in web search. But improvements to its core search technology are critical for keeping an edge in adjacent areas, primarily voice-computing, where Google competes with Amazon.