Tushar Mehta / Android Authority
Tl; Dream
- Google tests AI sound overviews in Chrome for Android.
- This feature will be available as part of Chromes read high functionality.
- AI audio overviews can convert text from any website to interactive notebooklm style podcasts for improved learning.
Google is constantly building up the number of touch points where we interact with AI as standard. Search, one of Google’s most used products, has already been canopy by AI overviews for a text-based summary of the search results. If you prefer to hear the results instead of reading them is Google too Testing of “audio overviews” on the searchoffers an essence of the results in a podcast-like format, just as Notebooklmand this feature now appears to also push the road into Chrome Browser for Android.
Google was recently discovered testing of audio overviews in Chrome, and it can be used to convert text from any website to a podcast. The AI sound overviews appear to be integrated into Chromes “Listen to this page.” Instead of reading the actual content of the website, the Read ALOUD feature creates a summary of the content using AI and then plays it as an interactive podcast that involves two speakers.
Reddit User Leopeva64-2 discovered this functionality, and also highlighted a new AI playback button next to the playback button, under the Reading Mode progress line. This new button can be used to switch the functionality on and off.
Redditor has the Canary feature in particular the version of Chrome where Google tests new features before rolling them out to mainstream mobile or desktop versions, so it’s not available in the stable version yet. We could not recreate it, indicating that Google could test this with a selected set of users.
But, but Android Authority contributor Assembledbug Have discovered the following code strings in the Beta version of Chrome for Android, pointing to audio overviews.
Code
Standard playback
AI playback
Generating AI playback…
Tap to switch playback mode
Standard playback
AI playback
The presence of these strings validates Google’s intention to add AI-generated Summaries for Web Sites in Chrome for Android. Given the fact that they appear in Chrome Beta, however, it may take a while before they come to the browser’s stable version.
Do you think AI sound overviews in Chrome will help you consume more information, or will they take the fun out of reading? Let us know your thoughts below!