Google search now understands syntactically complex questions

Many users are now fully versed in Googling short, truncated phrases in order to get an accurate search result. But now Google`s search capabilities will extend to longer, syntactically complex phrases.

Following the introduction of Knowledge Graph in 2012, which provided information on individual brands, countries and public figures, Google is now seeking to understand the meaning of questions, rather than simply understanding each component of a phrase individually.

"We can now break down a query to understand the semantics of each piece," it said in a blog post announcing the changes to search.

"So now we can get at the intent behind the entire question. That lets us traverse the Knowledge Graph much more reliably to find the right facts and compose a useful answer. And we can build on this base to answer harder questions."

Google can now handle a number of different types of complex questions -- superlatives (such as `who is the tallest member of One Direction?`), time based questions (like `what songs did the Clash release in 1977?`) and more complex combinations. The example Google uses for this complex form of question is `what was the U.S. population in the year Bernie Sanders was born?`.

When WIRED tested the new search it was a little hit and miss. The search was successful when it was asked `who was President during the second Gulf War?` and `Who was U.S. President when the Angels won the World Series?`. It was, however, unable to deal with more UK-centric searches, failing to provide an accurate answer for questions such as `Who was UK Prime Minister when Blackburn Rovers won the FA Cup?` and `Who was PM when the Queen Is Dead was released?`. It remains to be seen whether it was WIRED`s phrasing of the questions that lead to the unsuccessful search results, or an unconscious bias on Google`s part against 1980s British indie music.

In its blog post, Google put any initial failures down to the launch jitters, and said it will improve over time.

"We`re still growing and learning, which means we make mistakes," it said. "Ask Google "Who was Dakota Johnson`s mom in the movie?", and we’ll respond with the movies of Dakota Johnson’s real-life mother Melanie Griffith, not the actor Jennifer Ehle who played Anastasia’s mother Carla in the 50 Shades of Grey movie. (Hey, that one’s tricky even for people!)"

"But know that we`re working hard on understanding your questions better so that we can find the answer to whatever you`re looking for." -wired.co.uk