Google's take on AI-powered search begins rolling out today. The company announced this morning that it's opening access to Google Search Generative Experience (SGE) and other Search Labs in the US. If you haven't already, you'll need to sign up for the waitlist and sit tight until you get an email announcing it's your turn. Revealed at Google I/O 2023 earlier this month, Google SGE is the company's infusion of conversational AI into the classic search experience. If you've played with Bing AI, expect a familiar -- yet different -- product. Cherlynn Low noted in Engadget's SGE preview that Google's AI-powered search uses the same input bar you're used to rather than a separate chatbot field like in Bing.

March 21 (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google on Tuesday began the public release of its chatbot Bard, seeking users and feedback to gain ground on Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) in a fast-moving race on artificial intelligence technology. Starting in the U.S. and UK, consumers can join a waiting list for English-language access to Bard, a program previously open to approved testers only. Google describes Bard as an experiment allowing collaboration with generative AI, technology that relies on past data to create rather than identify content. The release last year of ChatGPT, a chatbot from the Microsoft-backed startup OpenAI, has caused a sprint in the technology sector to put AI into more users' hands. The hope is to reshape how people work and win business in the process.

Google is beginning the rollout process for its recently announced "high-priority" notifications feature in its Gmail mobile app. The new AI-powered smarts will be landing first in the Gmail iOS app, followed shortly by the Android incarnation. As part of the broader Gmail redesign news several months back, Google revealed that a number of new features would soon be coming to the Gmail mobile app. Among those were high-priority notifications, which were made available in the company's other email app, Inbox, last year. The feature is basically trying to fix the perennial problem of alert overload.