Every day, billions of people turn to Google to search for answers to questions big and small. Of all the searches we see, complex tasks — like planning a family vacation or fixing a broken appliance — are the hardest to solve.
Unlike a simple task where you know exactly what you want — like “what’s the weather going to be like tomorrow?” — complex tasks require widening and narrowing searches to explore a topic or find an answer. In fact, it takes people eight searches on average to complete complex tasks.
At Google’s recent Search On event, we shared how innovations in AI are helping make the world’s information more useful, while empowering people to tackle complex tasks faster and easier than ever before. And that has implications for both consumers and the marketers trying to reach them.
New milestones for understanding information
Since the announcement of the Multitasking Unified
fantuan database Model (MUM for short) earlier this year, our consumer teams have been experimenting with its capabilities to help solve complex tasks. We got a preview of what’s possible in Search On. MUM represents a significant advancement in Google’s ability to understand information and deliver better search results. It’s one of our first multimodal AI models, meaning it can understand information in a wide range of formats
how to analyze sector attractiveness? simultaneously, such as text, image, and video. Plus, it can unlock insights in new ways by inferring connections between concepts, topics, and ideas.
Together, these latest advancements will enable entirely new ways of searching by helping Google understand complex tasks and questions in ways never before possible.
Better answers for complex tasks
Imagine you’re out enjoying a Sunday afternoon bike ride when you notice your wheels are acting up. You can see the problem with your bike, but you don’t have the words to describe the issue. If there’s a bike mechanic nearby, you can point out the problem and ask for advice. Soon you’ll be able to use Google Lens to do just that. By pointing the camera at you and asking “how do I fix this?” Google will be able to identify the problem, in this case with your rear derailleur, and connect you to helpful information on the web to fix it, like a YouTube video.
In fact, we recently added the ability to identify key
Moments in videos, right from search results, so you can jump to the content that’s relevant to you. The bike manufacturer might have a step-by-step
whatsapp filter troubleshooting video, or a content creator who’s passionate about cycling might have a guide to a broken derailleur. Either way, you’re on the right path to fixing your bike.
With MUM, Google could show you “related topics” referenced in those videos and help you better understand the task at hand. You might find that your bike chain is worn out and needs to be replaced to avoid future shifting issues.
