Google SGE A new way to search, teach, and resist

Abstract

In May 2023, amidst the fanfare and outcries over ChatGPT, Google quietly rolled out early access to new features in Search Labs, a user-based experimental testing ground for Search Generative Experience (SGE).1 Google pitches SGE as a new way of searching that uses generative artificial intelligence (AI) to “understand a topic faster, uncover new viewpoints and insights, and get things done more easily,” but later adds that it also helps make “complex purchase decisions faster and much easier.”2 Interested users can simply tap the Labs icon in Google Chrome or a Google search on an Android device to sign up. Opting in gives Google the right to collect and analyze your usage, queries, and location for development and machine learning. Being the curious librarian that I am, I clicked on the bubbling beaker icon that popped up on my Google Pixel one day in July and read about the new features. At first, I was hesitant to give Google even more of my data, but then again, I already give them so much. I thought about it for a few weeks and decided I might as well try it out, so others don’t have to. Here’s my experience so far and how I see Google SGE transforming information-seeking behavior, information literacy instruction, and privacy advocacy.