Google News, until now confined to technology based on frequent algorithm changes, is now taking a new avatar backed by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, befitting the future technology.
Launched in September 2002, Google News has undergone two major revamps so far that too limited to front-end appearance and for the first time, it has been revamped to emerge as a smarter and useful news source for mobile phones and web pages.
"We're excited to announce the launch of the new Google News... It's fast, engaging, and presents both the day's top stories and a personalized news experience for each user. Users can follow their favorite sources and topics," said Google News team in an official blog post on Wednesday. It organizes what's happening in the world to "help you learn more about the stories that matter to you," said the intro to its video.
All those publishers who have already participated in Google Play Newsstand, the original Google News, or videos on YouTube, will see their content automatically flow into the new product, along with all existing participation requirements, business rules, and analytics. No terms have been changed, assured the search giant.
But many publishers are apprehensive that the new shift in Google News may affect their ranking initially, forcing many players out of the front page. When the major revamp in Google News appearance hit the computer screens and mobiles last time in July 2017, several publishers had to scurry for cover and many had been wiped out of the Google News.
There's nothing that the publishers need to do to be included in the updated Google News, assured the Google News team this time. The shift to a revamped display will appear over the next few days on news.google.com on desktop and mobile web and Google Play Newsstand's app on Android and iOS. The News and Weather app will also point users to the new Google News app, said the blog.
Essentially, the new Google News, using AI will retrieve information, analyze, organize and deliver the news without any dealy. Currently, there is at least five to ten minutes delay in what hits the Internet to what appears on the Google News. This delay is likely to be shorter and the swift display of the news is likely to make the Internet fastest ever in terms of information dissemination. The end user will get the news based on the topics, subject and sites he or she is interested in, that too in greater detail, said Google.
In addition, suggestions based on individual preference will appear on the mobile screen in the Google News app, under the head "For you", and the entire news presentation will be based on machine-learning, which Google said "is getting better and better with time."
Google News is also presenting a "Full Coverage" feature providing an in-depth story by "reading different sources, checking out relevant tweets, and seeing what people think about that story." Users will also be able to subscribe to their favorite sources of news and avoid fake news.
The new Google News app will replace the existing Google Play Newsstand app, and is being rolled out to users starting today, Wednesday, May 9, 2018. The new changes to Google News will appear and be avaialble in 127 countries by next week.
It remains to be seen whether publishers really get benefited or perish when this machine learning app subjugates them to more scrutiny before selection.
