Google Discover is testing AI news summaries
It is testing AI-generated story summaries to give users a quicker way to scroll through the news without even clicking.
You might not notice it at first. Just another headline in your Discover feed. But look closer, and you’ll see it: a small stack of icons, a brief blurb written by AI, and a soft disclaimer, "Generated with AI." This isn’t a publisher’s summary. It’s Google talking.
Google is now reportedly testing AI-generated news summaries inside the Discover feed, the swipe-right news hub on Android and the Google app. These summaries pull from multiple articles to give users a short, AI-written overview without requiring a search or a single click.
This is the latest extension of Google’s AI Overviews, which began as a feature in Search and now appears to be migrating to more passive parts of the ecosystem. Unlike featured snippets that highlight a single source, these AI summaries blend multiple outlets, marked by overlapping icons in the corner of the card. Tap them, and you get a list of articles used to generate the overview. The summaries show three lines by default, with the option to "See more" for a longer AI-written recap.
Louis Eriakha
The feature first showed up in June for video content. Now it includes articles and comes with interface tweaks like a new “Save” icon between the heart and the three-dot menu, streamlining bookmarking.
Microsoft’s Bing has also offered AI-generated search summaries for over a year, but only within the context of user-initiated queries. Bing’s Copilot can summarise web pages and news articles, but only after you click or ask. It’s reactive. Google’s Discover summaries are proactive, and AI is summarising articles based on what it thinks you want to see before you even open them.
That said, the risks are clear: if the AI misinterprets an article or oversimplifies it, users may never click through to the full piece. Publishers may also worry about traffic loss, as summaries replace curiosity.
For now, the test is limited, and Google includes a warning that AI can make mistakes. But make no mistake: Google is reshaping how people consume information. Not just how they search, but how they passively absorb.
