Conversational AI Search Engines: Implications for Usability and the User Experience March 4, 2024 In February 2024, Fast Company [1] reported on the rise of conversational AI search engines. Large language models (LLM) power these tools, which can answer users’ questions by retrieving and summarizing information from the Internet. Since the rise of generative AI, several conversational AI search applications have cropped up online. Academic and scientific research is spearheading a wave of experimentation in this field. [2] Frenzied enthusiasm exists around what seems to be a new way of searching for content that provides an alternative to the Google model of search to which we’ve all become accustomed. Although conversational AI search engines serve a user need as old as time, they’re not only going beyond the user experience of classic, keyword-based search engines but also bringing about novel user behaviors.…