Subj : Google Chrome is getting a smarter, savvier address bar thanks to To : All From : TechnologyDaily Date : Tue Apr 30 2024 17:45:05 Google Chrome is getting a smarter, savvier address bar thanks to AI Date: Tue, 30 Apr 2024 16:29:07 +0000 Description: Chromes address bar, the omnibox, is evolving with machine learning to offer smarter search suggestions, adapting to user behavior for a more intuitive browsing experience. FULL STORY ====================================================================== Chrome s address bar has evolved to become a powerful tool beyond being a place to type in website URLs Google calls it the omnibox because its also a search field, as well as allowing you to carry out lots of other tasks and it's about to get a whole lot smarter, and better able to understand what youre looking for, thanks to machine learning . Chromes omnibox will be equipped to give more precise and more relevant suggestions when youre using Chrome, and as you use Chrome over time, the AI models behind it should improve your search suggestions thanks to upgraded 'relevance scoring'. Announcing the new capability in a post on the Google Chromium blog , Chrome omnibox engineering lead Justin Donnelly said hed polled colleagues asking for ways to improve the omnibox, and The number one answer I heard was improve the scoring system. According to XDA Developers , this scoring system is how the omnibox interprets what the user is searching for based on their typed input. The post also explains that this improved capability will apply to Chrome across Windows , macOS , and ChromeOS . (Image credit: Shutterstock/Gorodenkoff) From static to adaptive scoring models Donnelly added that the omniboxs scoring system did work pretty well already, but apparently, it was pretty inflexible and static, as it was ruled by a set of hand-built and hand-tuned formulas. These worked well for a huge range of inputs but werent easy to improve or adapt in new scenarios. He said the engineering team responsible for the innovation had been working on a machine-learning-powered scoring model which is more sensitive to different metrics (like the last time you visited a website) for a while, a process which took some time, partly due to the enormous number of searches that take place every day. Now, it looks like the improved models are ready to be rolled out. The team found that the less you visit a particular website, the less frequently the omnibox will return that site as a suggestion when processing your search queries. It also found something even more interesting - when a user spent a short amount of time navigating a specific web page, the new model also decreased that pages relevance score. The models training data revealed a pattern of users behavior where theyd open a page, realize that its not what they were looking for, and go back to the omnibox to look for something else. Donnelly said the team wanted to incorporate this finding into their model to lower the first results relevance score, and if not for the new machine-learning capabilities of the model, this feature could have been missed as a helpful addition. (Image credit: Shutterstock/Gorodenkoff) Onwards and upwards towards more personalized and responsive browsing It sounds like Chromiums engineering team took their mission pretty seriously, with Donnelly stating that his team was driven by a sincere belief in the impact of getting this right for our users. The results of their endeavors seem to have encouraged the team to continue working in this direction, and exploring more specialized search model versions for specific environments. Donnelly wraps up by saying that as part of this ongoing process, the team will be observing how users interactions with Chromes omnibox change over time, so that it gets a better idea of how it can continue to improve the relevance scoring. The new model will also allow the team to collect more time-sensitive signals from user activity, and then retrain, re-evaluate, and deploy enhanced models in the future. Overall, this sounds like a positive and exciting development, that could could deliver a more intuitive and more efficient browsing experience. Chromes omnibox will get better at knowing your habits and understanding what you want, and itll also get better at knowing what you dont. Its expected that this new functionality will arrive with Chrome update M124. All of that said, youll probably have to live with handing over even more of your data to Google regarding your moment-to-moment online habits. If you can, and if you trust Google to handle it responsibly, then you can look forward to what sounds like a well-thought-out and innovative feature. YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE... Chromes ad-blocking plan could be a privacy disaster and a reason to switch to Firefox Google Chrome will soon let you talk to Gemini right in the address bar Google Chrome delays third-party cookies plan yet again ====================================================================== Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/computing/browsers/google-chrome-is-getting-a-smarte r-savvier-address-bar-thanks-to-ai --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 (Linux/64) * Origin: tqwNet Technology News (1337:1/100) .