Introducing the Knowledge Graph: things, not strings

The Knowledge Graph enables you to search for things, people or places that Google knows about—landmarks, celebrities, cities, sports teams, buildings, ... TheKeyword Lateststories Productupdates Productupdates Android,Chrome&Play Android Chrome Chromebooks GooglePlay WearOSbyGoogle Devices&Services Chromecast GoogleNest Pixel Pixelbook Stadia Fitbit Explore&GetAnswers Earth GoogleAssistant Maps News Search Travel Connect&Communicate Duo Photos Translate InTheCloud Docs,SheetsandSlides Gmail GoogleCloud Meet MoreontheCloudBlog Seeallproductupdates Companynews Companynews Outreach&initiatives Diversityandinclusion Education Google.org GrowwithGoogle Sustainability Seeall Technology AI Developers Families Nextbillionusers Safetyandsecurity Seeall InsideGoogle Datacentersandinfrastructure Doodles Googlers LifeatGoogle Seeall Aroundtheglobe GoogleinAfrica GoogleinAsia GoogleinEurope GoogleinLatinAmerica Seeall Perspective SundarPichai,CEO RuthPorat,SVPandCFO KentWalker,SVP Seeall Presscorner RSSfeed Subscribe Search IntroducingtheKnowledgeGraph:things,notstrings May16,2012 minread Share Twitter Facebook Linkedin Mail Copylink A AmitSinghal SVP,Engineering Share Twitter Facebook Linkedin Mail Copylink Searchisalotaboutdiscovery—thebasichumanneedtolearnandbroadenyourhorizons.Butsearchingstillrequiresalotofhardworkbyyou,theuser.SotodayI’mreallyexcitedtolaunchtheKnowledgeGraph,whichwillhelpyoudiscovernewinformationquicklyandeasily.Takeaquerylike[tajmahal].Formorethanfourdecades,searchhasessentiallybeenaboutmatchingkeywordstoqueries.Toasearchenginethewords[tajmahal]havebeenjustthat—twowords.Butweallknowthat[tajmahal]hasamuchrichermeaning.Youmightthinkofoneoftheworld’smostbeautifulmonuments,oraGrammyAward-winningmusician,orpossiblyevenacasinoinAtlanticCity,NJ.Or,dependingonwhenyoulastate,thenearestIndianrestaurant.It’swhywe’vebeenworkingonanintelligentmodel—ingeek-speak,a“graph”—thatunderstandsreal-worldentitiesandtheirrelationshipstooneanother:things,notstrings.TheKnowledgeGraphenablesyoutosearchforthings,peopleorplacesthatGoogleknowsabout—landmarks,celebrities,cities,sportsteams,buildings,geographicalfeatures,movies,celestialobjects,worksofartandmore—andinstantlygetinformationthat’srelevanttoyourquery.Thisisacriticalfirststeptowardsbuildingthenextgenerationofsearch,whichtapsintothecollectiveintelligenceofthewebandunderstandstheworldabitmorelikepeopledo.Google’sKnowledgeGraphisn’tjustrootedinpublicsourcessuchasFreebase,WikipediaandtheCIAWorldFactbook.It’salsoaugmentedatamuchlargerscale—becausewe’refocusedoncomprehensivebreadthanddepth.Itcurrentlycontainsmorethan500millionobjects,aswellasmorethan3.5billionfactsaboutandrelationshipsbetweenthesedifferentobjects.Andit’stunedbasedonwhatpeoplesearchfor,andwhatwefindoutontheweb.TheKnowledgeGraphenhancesGoogleSearchinthreemainwaystostart:1.FindtherightthingLanguagecanbeambiguous—doyoumeanTajMahalthemonument,orTajMahalthemusician?NowGoogleunderstandsthedifference,andcannarrowyoursearchresultsjusttotheoneyoumean—justclickononeofthelinkstoseethatparticularsliceofresults: ThisisonewaytheKnowledgeGraphmakesGoogleSearchmoreintelligent—yourresultsaremorerelevantbecauseweunderstandtheseentities,andthenuancesintheirmeaning,thewayyoudo.2.GetthebestsummaryWiththeKnowledgeGraph,Googlecanbetterunderstandyourquery,sowecansummarizerelevantcontentaroundthattopic,includingkeyfactsyou’relikelytoneedforthatparticularthing.Forexample,ifyou’relookingforMarieCurie,you’llseewhenshewasbornanddied,butyou’llalsogetdetailsonhereducationandscientificdiscoveries: Howdoweknowwhichfactsaremostlikelytobeneededforeachitem?Forthat,wegobacktoourusersandstudyinaggregatewhatthey’vebeenaskingGoogleabouteachitem.Forexample,peopleareinterestedinknowingwhatbooksCharlesDickenswrote,whereasthey’relessinterestedinwhatbooksFrankLloydWrightwrote,andmoreinwhatbuildingshedesigned.TheKnowledgeGraphalsohelpsusunderstandtherelationshipsbetweenthings.MarieCurieisapersonintheKnowledgeGraph,andshehadtwochildren,oneofwhomalsowonaNobelPrize,aswellasahusband,PierreCurie,whoclaimedathirdNobelPrizeforthefamily.Allofthesearelinkedinourgraph.It’snotjustacatalogofobjects;italsomodelsalltheseinter-relationships.It’stheintelligencebetweenthesedifferententitiesthat’sthekey.3.GodeeperandbroaderFinally,thepartthat’sthemostfunofall—theKnowledgeGraphcanhelpyoumakesomeunexpecteddiscoveries.Youmightlearnanewfactornewconnectionthatpromptsawholenewlineofinquiry.DoyouknowwhereMattGroening,thecreatoroftheSimpsons(oneofmyall-timefavoriteshows),gottheideaforHomer,MargeandLisa’snames?It’sabitofasurprise: We’vealwaysbelievedthattheperfectsearchengineshouldunderstandexactlywhatyoumeanandgiveyoubackexactlywhatyouwant.Andwecannowsometimeshelpansweryournextquestionbeforeyou’veaskedit,becausethefactsweshowareinformedbywhatotherpeoplehavesearchedfor.Forexample,theinformationweshowforTomCruiseanswers37percentofnextqueriesthatpeopleaskabouthim.Infact,someofthemostserendipitousdiscoveriesI’vemadeusingtheKnowledgeGrapharethroughthemagical“Peoplealsosearchfor”feature.Oneofmyfavoritebooksis TheWhiteTiger,thedebutnovelbyAravindAdiga,whichwontheprestigiousManBookerPrize.UsingtheKnowledgeGraph,IdiscoveredthreeotherbooksthathadwonthesameprizeandonethatwonthePulitzer.Icantellyou,thissuggestionwasspoton!We’vebeguntograduallyrolloutthisviewoftheKnowledgeGraphtoU.S.Englishusers.It’salsogoingtobeavailableonsmartphonesandtablets—readmoreabouthowwe’vetailoredthistomobiledevices.Andwatchourvideo(alsoavailableonoursiteabouttheKnowledgeGraph)thatgivesadeeperdiveintothedetailsandtechnology,inthewordsofpeoplewho'veworkedonthisproject: 10:25 IntroducingtheKnowledgeGraph Wehopethisaddedintelligencewillgiveyouamorecompletepictureofyourinterest,providesmartersearchresults,andpiqueyourcuriosityonnewtopics.We’reproudofourfirstbabystep—theKnowledgeGraph—whichwillenableustomakesearchmoreintelligent,movingusclosertothe"StarTrekcomputer"thatI'vealwaysdreamtofbuilding.Enjoyyourlifelongjourneyofdiscovery,madeeasierbyGoogleSearch,soyoucanspendlesstimesearchingandmoretimedoingwhatyoulove. 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