Google's app for iPhones is getting a new feature called "Simplify." It uses AI to make hard words or technical information on the internet easier to understand, right on the web page.

Simplify uses a method from Google Research that makes prompts better. It uses Gemini to make difficult text easier to understand, while still keeping the main ideas. Google tested this and found that the simpler text helped people understand and remember the original information better.

Google likely hopes that by adding a feature like Simplify, people will keep using their tools and services to understand difficult topics, instead of using popular tools from other companies like OpenAI's ChatGPT.

To use Simplify, select any text on a webpage you are reading in the Google app and tap the 'Simplify' symbol that shows up. Then, a simpler text version will appear to help you understand the information and continue reading.

Google’s research blog shows an example of how this feature could work. For instance, you might see a sentence like: “This illness causes serious problems including damage to the lungs, thick tissue, changes in immune cells, more production of factors that affect the immune system, and significant changes to blood vessels in the lungs.”

This difficult condition affects the lungs. It causes damage from emphysema, which harms the air sacs. It also causes a lot of scarring of the lung tissue, called fibrosis. The immune cells in the lungs change, and the body makes more substances that control the immune system. The blood vessels in the lungs also change a lot.

Google says the idea for this feature is to help people understand difficult subjects they find when trying to learn online.

Google said in a blog post, "We want our models to explain difficult ideas correctly, without adding mistakes or missing important details. The new text should help people understand hard topics without changing the main information."

Simplify will be available for users on iOS this week.