6+ hour, 12+ min ago (271+ words) TOKYO - More people are finding information from online searches without clicking links provided by search engines, indicating information summarized by generative artificial intelligence that now appears at the top of search results is being considered sufficient. A recent private sector survey in Japan showed "zero-click" searches have become the norm in more than 60 percent of Google queries, with the trend prompting businesses and entities to review their customer engagement strategies. The operators of websites will likely see decreased advertising revenue and lost opportunities in obtaining new customers due to the trend, experts say. Data analysis firm Values Inc., based in Tokyo, and subscription blog platform operator Note Inc. estimated that there were about 6.18 billion Google searches in Japan in September, but those searches led to only 2.26 billion visits to websites listed in results. While the two firms suspect other functions…...

4+ week, 9+ hour ago (200+ words) TOKYO - KDDI Corp. plans to partner with U.S. tech giant Google to launch a news search service using generative artificial intelligence in Japan as early as spring 2026, sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday. The service, to be provided by KDDI and Google Cloud Japan, aims to prevent copyright infringement by restricting searches to content from domestic media affiliated with the program, the sources said. It will use Google's Gemini generative AI model. The AI will not independently collect information from the internet, and source articles will be cited clearly. It has not yet been decided how the news articles will be presented, the sources said. Telecom giant KDDI seeks to deepen its connection with customers through the initiative that is expected to involve six news companies, including online media. The plan comes as unauthorized use of articles by generative AI…...