Some users will get AI-generated 'overviews' in their Google search results when they ask questions
Google has begun trialling search answers written by artificial intelligence in the UK, after the feature was tested in the US last year.
Initially only a small proportion of logged-in UK users will see an AI-generated "Overview" at the top of some search results.
While Google is the most popular search engine, Microsoft's rival Bing already integrates its Copilot AI.But some publishers worry AI answers may reduce visits to their sites.
The "Search Generative Experience" - as Google dubs the feature - has been available for nearly a year in the US, but only to users who signed up via Google Labs.It said the UK experiment will involve a "Small slice" of UK search traffic, selected from logged-in users.
It comes as a front-page report in the Financial Times suggested that the firm was considering offering subscriptions for some premium AI search features in the future.
Google denied it was "Working on or considering an ad-free search experience".
Hema Budaraju, who helps drive Google's generative AI efforts in search, told the BBC its new search results will still display links and ads.
Google is aware of the risk, common to AI systems, that they can sometimes generate content that is harmful, offensive, display racial or gender bias, or factually wrong.
As a result, she said Google chose to make answers less fluent and more constrained, focusing instead on accuracy.
The firm says US users have responded positively so far, but if the trial is successful and AI generated search answers are eventually used by billions of people, that may bring further challenges.