14 DAY TRIAL // At I/O, Google talked a lot about the direction search is going. It's nothing new, it's the same direction from six months ago or two years ago. The only difference is that Google has actually started to transform search into something more like a personal assistant.
Case in point is "conversational search," which Google showcased at I/O. The feature is now being enabled in Chrome, some people have had it for a few days.
It's not an entirely new technology. In fact, there isn't much about it that is new except perhaps the combination.
The term "conversational search" comes from the fact that you "speak" to the search engine, i.e. you use voice search.
Of course, voice search is hardly new, even to Google, it has been available in Chrome for almost two years now.
What is new though is that you can use natural language, i.e. speak like you would normally, to ask a question.
Native language processing and semantic search aren't new either, Siri has been around for almost two years as well, and Google has supported it in its mobile search app for quite a while too.
Also new is the fact that search now talks back, when it makes sense, just like the Google mobile search app works.
Finally, Google will also provide straight answers, when it can rely on the Knowledge Graph for it, or for Google Now searches, like appointments, flights and so on. The Knowledge Graph and Google Now have been around for a while as well.
But all of these have never been put together until now. And, when it works, the new conversational search feature is impressive, to say the least.
Besides being able to ask something and getting a straight answer back, what's even more impressive are follow up searches, which take into account your previous searches, meaning that you can use pronouns and other shortcuts.
All of this is already available to Chrome users, you can take it for a spin now. Again, it doesn't work all the time, but when it does, it's impressive and it will only get better.