Google gives search a voice with new AI audio summaries

With Audio Overviews, Google now delivers spoken explanations alongside relevant web pages, allowing users to grasp a topic’s basics quickly and conveniently—ideal for multitaskers or anyone seeking faster, hands-free search results

Google is taking another significant step in transforming the search experience by integrating generative AI with audio. The company has launched Audio Overviews, a new experimental feature that delivers short, conversational summaries for select search queries. This innovation is part of Google Labs, the company’s platform that allows users to test early features before wider rollout.

Built on Google’s latest Gemini AI models, Audio Overviews offer users a hands-free, podcast-style explanation of certain search topics. The summaries typically run between 30 and 45 seconds and aim to provide quick, accessible insights—especially useful for those who prefer audio content or are multitasking.

In a recent blog post, Google said the new feature is designed to help users "get a lay of the land" on a topic without needing to read through multiple sources. Along with the spoken summary, the audio player also displays helpful web pages for further reading or fact-checking, enhancing the overall experience with a balance of convenience and reliability.

Limited rollout for US users

To try out Audio Overviews, users in the US can visit labs.google.com and opt into the experiment. However, the feature is not available for all search queries. It is currently limited to certain educational or informational topics that benefit from an audio format. For example, queries like “how do noise cancellation headphones work” may display a “Generate Audio Overview” button within the search results. Once selected, the AI generates a dialogue-style explanation between two synthetic voices.

The interface includes basic playback controls such as play/pause, volume adjustment, mute, and variable playback speeds ranging from 0.25x to 2x. The audio summaries are accessible on both desktop and mobile devices, although availability is restricted to US users for now.

Google’s latest effort highlights the company’s broader push to make search more interactive, intuitive, and inclusive through AI-powered features.