UAE users can now see AI Overviews at the top of Google Search results

Dubai: If you have recently used Google for a search query, you may have noticed a new addition to the results page - a concise, AI-generated summary highlighting key information and relevant links at the top. This is Google's AI Overview, a feature first introduced in May 2024, and it has now officially launched in the UAE.

On May 20, 2025, during Google's annual developer event, I/O, AI Overview was made available in over 200 countries and regions worldwide. This AI-powered feature currently supports more than 40 languages, including Arabic, Mandarin, Malay, and Urdu, enhancing accessibility for a diverse global audience.

According to Google, AI Overviews are designed to facilitate new types of queries, enable quicker information retrieval, and encourage exploration of relevant websites across the internet.

“They will appear in Search when our systems determine when they'll be most helpful, featuring prominent web links so people can easily learn more,” explained Hema Budaraju, Vice President of Product Management and Search, during the I/O event.

In major Google markets such as the US and India, AI Overviews have already driven a significant increase in usage for queries that trigger these summaries, exceeding a 10 per cent rise.

Google initially launched AI Overviews in the US in May 2024, before expanding the feature to the UK, India, Japan, Indonesia, Mexico, and Brazil in August of the same year. 

By the end of 2024, Google's AI Overviews had further expanded across more than 100 countries, with AI-generated search summaries appearing for users in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Colombia, Chile, the Philippines, Nigeria, and numerous other locations. 

In each country, AI Overviews were available in any supported language, including English, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Upon its initial launch, Google promised that the feature would effectively “do the Googling for you.” However, there were some early challenges with reliability, leading to online discussion regarding unusual responses and inaccurate information. 

Since then, Google has stated it has implemented improvements, including detection mechanisms for nonsensical queries and updated systems to limit the use of user-generated content in responses that could offer misleading advice.

Liz Reid, VP of Google Search, emphasised that crucial topics such as news and health already have robust guardrails in place. For instance, the search engine does not display AI Overviews for hard news topics, where the timeliness and factual accuracy of information are paramount.

Sometimes, a quick answer is needed, but the time to collate all necessary information is limited. This is where AI Overviews come in, with Search performing the legwork for you.

Google AI Overviews are a feature within Google Search that provides AI-generated summaries at the top of search results. These summaries offer a concise overview of a topic or query, leveraging generative AI to synthesise data from various sources and provide a quick understanding of the information.

During May 2024, Google highlighted that with AI Overviews, users are visiting a greater diversity of websites when seeking answers to more complex questions.

Furthermore, the company observed that links included within AI Overviews receive more clicks than if the page had appeared as a traditional web listing for the same query.

“As we expand this experience, we will continue to focus on sending valuable traffic to publishers and creators,” Reid affirmed during the 2024 launch of AI Overview.

In addition to the expanded global rollout of AI Overview, Google is also introducing AI Mode in the US. AI Mode represents Google's most powerful AI search to date, boasting more advanced reasoning capabilities and multimodality. It offers the ability to delve deeper into topics through follow-up questions and provides helpful links to the web.

Google has also integrated deep research capabilities into AI Mode with Deep Search. Furthermore, AI has been incorporated into Google Shopping. The new AI Mode will also be capable of analysing complex datasets and generating custom-built graphics to visualise this information, all tailored to your specific query.