I don't see why this feature needs to be powered by generative AI. As the article itself says you can very well just "search “vintage store SF” in the regular Google Maps search bar." Google just needs to analyze place descriptions and reviews and look for synonyms of "vintage" among them. The only AI related task might be to look at street view photos and user-uploaded photos to detect whether what's depicted in the photo could reasonably be called "vintage".
From a user perspective, it's a much better experience to see a list of places rather than generative AI generating some text.
I think this is just the Maps team getting on the gen AI hype train.
From a user perspective, it's a much better experience to see a list of places rather than generative AI generating some text.
I think this is just the Maps team getting on the gen AI hype train.