Google is now testing a new feature called Audio Overviews in its Search interface, allowing users to listen to AI-generated summaries of their queries. The move is part of a broader shift by the tech giant to embed its powerful Gemini artificial intelligence into more products — transforming the traditional search experience into a multimodal, voice-assisted journey.
In a blog post on Friday, Google said the feature, now available in Google Labs, will generate quick, conversational audio overviews for selected queries using its Gemini models. The company explained that the new experience aims to help users “get a lay of the land” while multitasking or simply consuming information in an audio format.
The rollout follows the integration of similar audio functions into NotebookLM, Google’s AI-powered research and note-taking assistant, and more recently into the Gemini mobile app, where users can generate podcast-style summaries of their uploaded documents.
Register for Tekedia Mini-MBA edition 17 (June 9 – Sept 6, 2025) today for early bird discounts. Do annual for access to Blucera.com.
Tekedia AI in Business Masterclass opens registrations.
Join Tekedia Capital Syndicate and co-invest in great global startups.
Register to become a better CEO or Director with Tekedia CEO & Director Program.
The new audio option comes just weeks after The Wall Street Journal reported that Google’s AI Overviews — the text-based summaries introduced earlier this year — are significantly reducing traffic to websites, particularly for publishers and content creators.
According to the Journal, several media outlets have seen sharp drops in search traffic since the AI-generated Overviews began appearing at the top of search results. The feature often answers user queries directly, summarizing content from multiple sources without requiring users to click through to the original websites. Industry experts and publishers have expressed concern that this is cannibalizing web traffic, undercutting ad revenue, and posing an existential threat to journalism.
The Audio Overviews are expected to worsen that situation. Instead of scanning through summaries or clicking for more, users can now passively listen to AI narrations — a format that further reduces the incentive to visit original sources. While Google says it includes links to source material within the audio player, there’s concern that these references will be ignored by most listeners.
Google maintains that the goal is to enhance accessibility and improve the user experience. In its announcement, it said the feature will only appear for certain queries and will be refined based on user feedback. The audio player comes with controls for playback speed, volume, and pause, along with visible source links that users can explore to get more in-depth information.
But publishers argue that offering information in this kind of pre-packaged audio format — even when sourced — disincentivizes engagement with original content.
The development is the latest in a series of AI-driven disruptions to the digital publishing ecosystem. Google, along with rivals like OpenAI and Meta, has been under scrutiny for using publisher content to train AI models without compensation or proper credit. Several newsrooms are already pursuing legal and policy remedies to defend their content and secure a more equitable digital economy.
For now, Audio Overviews remain experimental and are available to a limited group of users enrolled in Google Labs. But if the feature expands widely, it could become a central part of Google’s vision for a more AI-integrated Search — and a further blow to news publishers still struggling to adapt to the changing dynamics of the web.