Users keep Google guessing

ONE OF Google’s biggest challenges is finding ways to guess the context of what its search engine users really want. One person searching for the word “jaguar” may be interested in big cats, while another may be a car fanatic, says Peter Norvig, Google’s head of research.

Google recently announced it was changing its search algorithms to provide personalised search.

By basing results for any new search on all of a person’s previous searches on Google, the company hopes to give users the most relevant set of results.

Mr Norvig, who is in Ireland to deliver the annual Boyle Lecture in Informatics tonight at University College Cork, has a background in robotics and artificial intelligence.

He worked with Nasa as its chief scientist before moving to Google.