It's the season of AI and almost every tech giant worth its salt now has a dog in the race. At Google's I/O 2023 event, there was no shortage of AI-related announcements. One of the standout announcements was a slew of AI-powered search features.

Here's a brief recap of some of those features and how you can join the waitlist to become one of the first to get access to them.

An image of the Google homepage

Google outlined how it's going to utilize generative AI to improve Search in a post on The Keyword.

AI-powered snapshots is the most prominent AI feature that would be making its way to Google Search. It is designed to provide users with quick (and hopefully accurate) answers to complex queries that would otherwise require multiple Google searches and hours of research to put together.

Weaved closely into AI snapshots are two other AI experiences: AI-assisted shopping and conversational mode. Conversational mode is a Bard-like interface that can be invoked by a user whenever there's a need to explore more of what is displayed on the AI-powered snapshot. Perhaps more importantly, it gives Google search users a way to streamline their Google search with precision by utilizing the power of Google's powerful large language models.

And then there's AI-assisted shopping. AI-assisted shopping—or whichever name Google would want to give it—is like Google shopping with a dose of AI. The feature itself is powered by Google shopping and is embedded on the new AI-powered snapshot panel, coming up whenever there's a search that's related to shopping. Being able to search for products on Google is cool, but being able to search with laser precision, that's where AI-assisted shopping comes in.

How to Access Google's AI Search Features

You want it, we all want it. Unfortunately Google isn't rolling out these features to the public just yet. However, you can be among the first to try it out when Google begins a controlled roll-out. But how? By joining the Search Generative Experience waitlist.

For now, in order to join the waitlist, you'll need to be in the US. So, if you're a Google user resident in the US, head over to Google Search Labs and click on Join waitlist to be added to the waitlist.

Google search labs screenshot

If all goes well, you should see a screen like the one below. Google will notify whenever you are next in line to try the feature once the company begins a controlled roll-out.

Google search labs waitlist confirmation screen screenshot

With that out of the way, you can also go ahead to download the Search Labs app on the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store. This is optional.

Be Among the First to Try Google's Search Generative Experience

AI is no more solely the trendy buzzword it used to be. We are now gradually seeing a rapid integration of AI in most the tools we use on a daily basis. Whether you want to find answers, images, videos, or even generate content, Google Search's AI features promises to help you do it faster and better. So, jump into the waitlist and see what AI can do for you.