Google Unveils AI Mode: A New Era for Search

Google's AI Mode Will Change Your Search Experience. Here's How

Expertise artificial intelligence, home energy, heating and cooling, home technology A new tab is coming to your Google Search bar, and it's going to feel a lot more like an AI chatbot than a traditional search engine. Google started testing AI Mode earlier this year, and announced at Tuesday's I/O developers conference that the feature will roll out to everyone in the US in the coming weeks. It uses a custom version of the Gemini generative AI model to give conversational responses and pull information from a variety of sources. Read more: Google I/O 2025 Liveblog: Gemini AI Updates, Android XR, Spotlight on AI and more At last year's I/O conference, Google introduced AI Overviews, which have driven a major shift in Google search and in the internet's information environment at large. AI Mode promises an even deeper, more chatbot-like experience right in the search bar. "AI Mode is where we will first bring our frontier capabilities into search," CEO Sundar Pichai said. AI Mode will exist as an extra tab on your normal search bar and as new functionality within your search results. Google said AI mode uses a "query fan-out technique" to better break down your search question, including an ability to identify and process multiple searches at a time. Features expected to launch this summer will integrate AI Mode with your other Google apps, meaning the AI model will be able to get context around your searches from information in your email or calendar. If you ask for a restaurant in a city you're visiting, for example, it might suggest places that are near your reservations. Google says you can always disconnect it from your personal apps. A Deep Search function will be able to look at hundreds of different searches and use an AI reasoning model to provide an in-depth, cited response to a question in a matter of minutes, Google said. Other AI Mode features are around shopping. You'll be able to talk conversationally with the tool to narrow down products and even virtually try on outfits. For sports and finance questions, AI Mode will be able to generate graphs based on complex data sets. This feature is expected this summer. The new AI Mode comes as large language models are transforming how people get information on the internet. Questions are becoming more conversational. You may no longer search "best Father's Day gifts." You might instead go to a chatbot and say, "I'm looking for a Father's Day gift. My dad likes Roman history, puzzles and wood crafts." You'll then get a more detailed response, and a conversation, rather than just a set of links that have similar words in them. Elizabeth Reid, vice president and head of search at Google, said users coming to Google Search are asking longer, more difficult questions, and they're asking more questions. Integrating gen AI is one way to address that. "This is the future of Google search, a search that goes beyond information to intelligence," she said. While AI Overviews first brought this kind of technology into the main search results page, AI Mode is integrating it even more. And if you're thinking you can avoid these AI features for a bit longer by sticking with the standard search, think again. What starts in AI Mode might be everywhere soon. "Over time, we'll graduate many of AI Mode's cutting-edge features and capabilities directly into the core search experience," Reid said.

Google starts embedding AI chatbot into search

Google is introducing a new artificial intelligence mode that more firmly embeds chatbot capabilities into its search engine, aiming to give users the experience of having a conversation with an expert. The "AI Mode" was made available in the US on Tuesday, appearing as an option in Google's search bar. The change, unveiled at the company's annual developers conference in Mountain View, California, is part of the tech giant's push to remain competitive against ChatGPT and other AI services, which threaten to erode Google's dominance of online search. The company also announced plans for its own augmented reality glasses and said it planned to offer a subscription AI tool. Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Google-parent Alphabet, said the incorporation of the company's Gemini chatbot into its search signalled a "new phase of the AI platform shift". "With more advanced reasoning, you can ask AI both longer and more complex queries," Pichai told the audience. Google also announced a new foray into AI-powered glasses. The company pioneered smart glasses more than a decade ago with its "Google Glasses", which ultimately flopped. With the renewed effort, Google hopes to compete against Meta's AI-powered glasses made with Ray-Ban. The new Google glasses, which are being developed with eyeglass retailers Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, will feature a camera, microphone, and speakers. The company said it expected to start building the new product later this year. Leo Gebbie, principal analyst and director for the Americas at CCS Insight, said Google had been expected to wrap AI more tightly into its products. He said he thought the chatbot would help minimise the number of web pages that users must sift through, while also allowing people to ask more complicated queries. "For the end user, this should mean less time spent browsing the web itself, and more time spent talking with Google's AI tools," he said. Any updates that Google makes to search are "of critical importance," added Gebbie, since the search business contributes the vast majority of Google's revenues. The announcements also come as the company fights a court battle in the US over potential changes to its business after a judge ruled it had a monopoly in search. Google has had mixed success in its recent attempts to incorporate more AI into its services. Its AI Overviews feature, unveiled by Google at its developers conference last year, offers AI-generated summaries that currently appear at the top of search results. It initially generated ridicule from users who posted some of the odd responses they received, as when it advised one user that non-toxic glue could help make cheese stick to pizza. Another widely circulated response stated that geologists recommend humans eat one rock each day. A Google spokesperson said at the time that these were "isolated examples." Mr Pichai said on Tuesday that AI Overviews now gets 1.5 billion uses per month in more than 200 countries and territories. In its biggest markets - the US and India - AI Overviews drive more than 10% of growth in the types of queries that show them, Pichai said. "It's one of the most successful launches in search in the past decade," he added. Sign up for our Tech Decoded newsletter to follow the world's top tech stories and trends. Outside the UK? Sign up here.

Google’s New AI Mode for Search Cranks Gemini to Max Volume

If you want the maximum amount of AI in your web search, Google's got your back. Looks like Google is doubling down on AI-centric search despite a rocky, glue-pizza-marred rollout last year. At Google I/O 2025, the company announced "AI Mode" for search that greatly expands what it started with AI Overviews. According to Google, "AI Mode," which is available in Labs starting Tuesday, "expands what AI Overviews can do with more advanced reasoning and thinking and multimodal capabilities." In plain English, that means a lot more Gemini in your search. Specifically, Google says AI Mode will be able to answer "your toughest questions" and can be used to go more in-depth, asking follow-ups and providing "helpful web links." AI Mode is based on a custom version of Gemini 2.0, according to Google, and uses real-time sources like the Knowledge Graphâ€"Google's own database of people, places, and thingsâ€"to pull data as well as (of course) shopping data. In practice, Google says AI Mode can be used to compare products with queries like, “What's the difference in sleep tracking features between a smart ring, smartwatch, and tracking mat?†or "What happens to your heart rate during deep sleep?†and will conduct research for you by leveraging multiple sources across the web. This all sounds well and good on the surface, but it's worth noting that Google's previous attempts at AI-forward search haven't exactly worked out as intended. Its AI Overviews were rocky to say the least and ended up peddling straight-up misinformation. In one particularly egregious instance, Google's AI search even recommended that someone try putting glue on their pizza to get the cheese to stick. I think I can speak for everyone when I say that's not really the type of next-gen search prowess we've been waiting for. For what it's worth, Google at least gave some lip service, however indirect, to fixing those problems in its explanation of AI mode. "AI Mode is rooted in our core quality and ranking systems, and we’re also using novel approaches with the model’s reasoning capabilities to improve actuality," Google said in a statement. "We aim to show an AI-powered response as much as possible, but in cases where we don’t have high confidence in helpfulness and quality, the response will be a set of web search results." And that's always kind of the problem with AI search, or sometimes AI in general, isn't it? We want it to make our lives easier or get us to the truth faster, but we're not quite at the point of being able to trust it fully yet. Web search, even without generative AI hallucinating facts or trying to serve up glue pizza, is already a messy thing that often falls victim to bias and misinformation, and until those problems are solved (given that they can be solved), I'm going to assume AI Mode or any other kind of AI search is going to contend with the same pitfalls. I'm hopeful, though, because web search does need to get better, and if I can find more reliable, useful information faster with the help of AI, I'll be the first adopter. So, you're up, AI Mode! Time to get in the kitchen and show us if you're a less toxic pizza chef than your predecessor.

Search gets smarter: Google rolls out AI mode for all US users

The search engine giant announced a revamped "AI mode" for Search, now available to all U.S. users, that aims to make web searches feel more like a conversation with a well-informed assistant rather than scrolling through links. The company also revealed it's integrating its powerful Gemini 2.5 AI model into Search, enhancing its ability to handle longer, more complex queries. CEO Sundar Pichai describes the AI mode as a "total reimagining of search," transforming Google's flagship product from a directory of links into an interactive AI assistant. "Search is bringing AI to more people than any other product in the world," Pichai said before a packed crowd in an amphitheater near the company's Mountain View, California, headquarters. .Early features include AI-generated overviews, ticket-booking capabilities, making reservations, and filling out forms, with partnerships from Ticketmaster and Resy. A new "Live" capability lets users interact with Search through their camera in real time, reshaping how people engage with the internet. AI Mode also gives a major boost to shopping with virtual try-ons and an agentic checkout assistant.

Google's unveils 'AI Mode' in the next phase of its journey to change search

Search engine revamp and Gemini 2.5 introduced at conference in latest showing tech giant is all in on AI Google on Tuesday unleashed another wave of artificial intelligence (AI) technology to accelerate a year-long makeover of its search engine that is changing the way people get information and curtailing the flow of internet traffic to other websites. The next phase outlined at Google's annual developers conference includes releasing a new "AI mode" option in the United States. The company says the feature will make interacting with its search engine more like having a conversation with an expert capable of answering a wide array of questions. AI mode is being offered to all users in the US just two and a half months after the company began testing with a limited Labs division audience. Google is also feeding its latest AI model, Gemini 2.5, into its search algorithms and will soon begin testing other AI features, such as the ability to automatically buy concert tickets and conduct searches through live video feeds. In another example of Google's all-in approach to AI, the company revealed it is planning to leverage the technology to re-enter the smart glasses market with a new pair of Android XR-powered spectacles. The preview of the forthcoming device, which includes a hands-free camera and a voice-powered AI assistant, comes 13 years after the debut of Google Glass, a product that the company scrapped after a public backlash over privacy concerns. Google didn't say when its Android XR glasses will be available or how much they will cost, but disclosed they will be designed in partnership with Gentle Monster and Warby Parker. The glasses will compete against a similar product already on the market from Facebook parent Meta Platforms and Ray-Ban. The expansion builds upon a transformation that Google began a year ago with the introduction of conversational summaries called "AI overviews" that have been increasingly appearing at the top of its results page and eclipsing its traditional rankings of web links. About 1.5 billion people now regularly engage with "AI overviews," according to Google, and most users are now entering longer and more complex queries. "What all this progress means is that we are in a new phase of the AI platform shift, where decades of research are now becoming reality for people all over the world," Google's CEO, Sundar Pichai, said before a packed crowd in an amphitheater near the company's headquarters in Mountain View, California. Although Pichai and other Google executives predicted AI overviews would trigger more searches and ultimately more clicks to other sites, it hasn't worked out that way so far, according to the findings of search optimization firm BrightEdge. Clickthrough rates from Google's search results have declined by nearly 30% during the past year, according to BrightEdge's recently released study, which attributed the decrease to people becoming increasingly satisfied with AI overviews. The decision to make AI mode broadly available after a relatively short test period reflects Google's confidence that the technology won't habitually spew misinformation that tarnishes its brand's reputation, and acknowledges the growing competition from other AI-powered search options from the likes of ChatGPT and Perplexity. The rapid rise of AI alternatives emerged as a recurring theme in legal proceedings that could force Google to dismantle parts of its internet empire after a federal judge last year declared its search engine to be an illegal monopoly. In testimony during a trial earlier this month, longtime Apple executive Eddy Cue said Google searches done through the iPhone maker's Safari browser have been declining because more people are leaning on AI-powered alternatives. Google has cited the upheaval being caused by AI's rise as one of the main reasons that it should only be required to make relatively minor changes to the way it operates its search engine because technology already is changing the competitive landscape. But Google's reliance on more AI so far appears to be enabling its search engine to maintain its mantle as the internet's main gateway - a position that's the main reason its corporate parent, Alphabet Inc, boasts a market value of $2tn. During the year ending in March, Google received 136bn monthly visits, 34 times more than ChatGPT's average of 4bn monthly visits, according to data compiled by onelittleweb.com. Even Google's own AI mode acknowledged that the company's search engine seems unlikely to be significantly hurt by the shift to AI technology when a reporter from the Associated Press asked whether its introduction would make the company even more powerful. "Yes, it is highly likely that Google's AI mode will make Google more powerful, particularly in the realm of information access and online influence," the AI mode responded. The feature also warns that web publishers should be concerned about AI mode reducing the traffic they get from search results. Google's upcoming tests in its labs division foreshadow the next wave of AI technology likely to be made available to the masses. Besides using its Project Mariner technology to test the ability of an AI agent to buy tickets and book restaurant reservations, Google will also experiment with searches done through live video and an opt-in option to give its AI technology access to people's Gmail and other Google apps so it can learn more about a user's tastes and habits. Other features on this summer's test list include a "Deep Search" option that will use AI to dig even deeper into complex topics and another tool that will produce graphical presentations of sports and finance data. Google is also introducing its equivalent of a VIP pass to all its AI technology with an "Ultra" subscription package that will cost $250 per month and include 30 terabytes of storage, too. That's a big step beyond Google's previous top-of-the-line package, which is now called "AI Pro," that costs $20 per month and includes two terabytes of storage.

I've been using Google's new AI mode for Search - here's how to master it

Google's AI Mode has finally emerged from Google Labs after a long period of experimentation and improvement. Now, anyone in the US can play around with using Google's AI Mode to find answers about complex topics, among its other highlights. AI Mode is a very different experience from the traditional Google Search and goes well beyond the paragraph AI Overview that everyone sees in terms of what it can do. That's because AI Mode works by sending out multiple related questions based on your initial single prompt. The responses from AI Mode are more comprehensive because they are based on simultaneous searches leveraging Gemini AI. Unlike regular search, you'll get full paragraphs, with summaries, bullet point breakdowns, comparisons, and suggestions for follow-up questions a la Perplexity. You ask it something like, "Which is better for a fall trip: Niagara or the Finger Lakes?" and instead of a thousand travel blogs, it gives you a tidy breakdown of pros and cons, best months to visit, and whether or not you'll need bear spray. All you need to do to get to AI Mode once it's available for you is to click on the AI Mode tab on the left of Google's search page. The real secret is learning how to use it well. Be specific While AI mode can be impressive, it's also a bit like a genie that is very literal in its responses. Broad queries such as "best headphones" will still get you something useful, but when you ask for "best noise-canceling headphones under $200 for frequent flyers with small ears," AI Mode really shines. That said, we'd still point you to our own best noise-canceling headphones guide for the absolute best advice, from people who have tested these things for many years. AI will never be able to do that. (Or at least not yet.) AI Mode shouldn't be the go-to for everything, of course. If you just need to look up a phone number, confirm the weather, or settle a bet about which "Fast & Furious" movie has the submarine, regular Google still wins for speed. But if you're researching, planning, comparing, or learning, AI Mode can be a real comfort. Ultimately, they can work together depending on your needs. AI search "feels very far from a zero-sum moment," as Google CEO Sundar Pichai put it. AI info hunter I've used AI Mode for everything from planning meals to fixing plumbing and deciding on a movie to watch among multiple choices. The follow-ups give AI Mode real juice, because if the initial answer isn't enough, you can ask deeper or tangential questions without rephrasing everything. So, if I start with, "How do I begin composting?" and then ask, "What's the best hut to put it in?" or "What should I add to make the eventual soil extra healthy?" that will likely guide it in the right direction. Though useful, you should still take a grain or 10 of salt with the answers. As with AI Overviews, AI Mode is not infallible. It can misquote sources, hallucinate facts, or paraphrase in ways that sound authoritative but don't quite check out. I once caught it claiming that oat milk is naturally carbonated (it is not). There's also the question of privacy. You're sharing a lot more detail than just a few keywords, and it's tracking a thread of what you're saying. It's not that you shouldn't use it, but be aware that that's part of the price for the features. Proactive online search Still, there's no denying how useful it is. The more I use AI Mode, the more I find myself reaching for it first, especially when I don't know how to phrase what I'm looking for. Like, "What kind of garden vegetables are low-maintenance and survive mild neglect?" AI Mode told me to plant kale. AI Mode makes for a more proactive form of Google Search. It nudges you toward potentially better questions and explains how it is solving problems. So, give the AI Mode button a tap and see what you can find. You might not get perfection, but you'll almost always get something useful or at least entertainingly useless. As Pichai put it, AI search has "made the web itself more exciting." You might also like

What is Google's AI Mode, and how will it change search forever?

AI Mode promises to upend the entire search industry as we know it. At this year's Google I/O conference, the company introduced a series of products that promise to radically shift the way people interface with the web, starting today. As a part of its broader plan to make AI, and specifically its own AI, Gemini, the center of your world, the company shared more about what it's calling "AI Mode" for Google Search. AI Mode, first shown to journalists and other insiders in early March, aims to transform the way you interact with the broader web and fundamentally change how the search engine company views the act of searching itself. For starters, it helps to discern between two different Google features with almost confusingly similar names: Google AI Overview and Google AI Mode. AI Overview was introduced to the public last year in May of 2024, with often hilariously off-base and sometimes even dangerous results. Powered by the now comparatively ancient PaLM 2 LLM, AI Overview is basically a "summarizer" AI that pulls the information you're searching for from a few of the top pages and then combines them into several summarized paragraphs ahead of the rest of the results. Meanwhile, the new AI Mode is powered by the Gemini 2.5 model and can be accessed through an optional tab that launched for all Google users on Tuesday. AI Mode includes AI Overview (now backed by Gemini instead of PaLM 2) and a slew of other features, including Deep Search, Search Live, and agentic capabilities via the company's Project Mariner effort. With all these features combined, Google wants to completely change how you interface with the broader web going forward. With the ability to buy tickets to a game or make reservations at a restaurant in your name with one request, AI Mode could forever usurp the passive, manual process of using the web. During its presentation, Google showed off several of AI Mode's agentic capabilities, including getting tickets to a game and reserving a table at a restaurant afterwards, all in one request. The company didn't demo the full extent of this feature, but having toyed with it myself today, I can say it's surprising how good it is at running off and getting things done for you in a way you always expected AI should. With a more conversational approach to the Google Search experience, AI Mode gathers information from across the web. It condenses everything you might need from a long-chain request into a single window. You can then take from the returned results and refine things even further, bouncing from one search to the next in natural language that remembers what you searched for last. Also, if you use the broader Google suite of products, including Docs and Gmail, AI Mode can further personalize results based on your data history. Once you've found the restaurant you want to order from or the game you want to attend, you tell Google to set it up, and AI Mode handles the rest. The company wasn't done there, though. It also showed new data visualization and analysis tools, where AI Mode can take in, contextualize, and even visualize larger amounts of data compared to a traditional Google Search. Then, the presenter took a beat to unveil Deep Search, a part of AI Mode that can take in several instructions at once and contextualize long-chain requests in a single search. Lastly, like many types of Google Search these days, AI Mode is multimodal. This means users can ask questions via text or voice or even upload images and videos. Combined, this all adds up to a new kind of Google Search that can understand complex queries, perform multi-faceted research, and synthesize responses in real time that consider all aspects of a user's interactions. For those not in the online publishing industry, there are a few different ways that the people and businesses who write, edit, and shoot content make a profit. These include affiliate deals, selling ads, and sponsored content. Two out of three of those revenue streams rely on people, or "clicks," as you'll hear them referred to in our meetings, coming to the site and interacting with the content. The more eyes on the content, the more ads you can sell and the more you can sustain the costs of running the site. While many publishers have already reported diminished clicks in the wake of AI Overview, AI Mode turns the traditional search and SEO model on its head. In essence, AI Mode operates as a chat window designed to Hoover up and repackage broad scopes of information from what otherwise may have been 20-100 different open tabs. For example, when planning your kids' summer camps using traditional Google Search, every unopened tab is a lost click, meaning less money for the sites that Google uses to mine for information. In one of Google's examples during the keynote, a mock user is trying to find summer camp reservations for their kids. The user speaks in complete sentences and natural language as you would with any other LLM, and gives the agent follow-up questions after the first results return. Google will encourage this back-and-forth going forward, as it keeps users in the company's ecosystem for far longer than they used to for a simple search. The longer you're staring at a Google product, ultimately the more ads they'll be able to serve, and the easier it will be to justify the massive datacenter costs required to keep all these AI Mode search plates spinning. But if Google's next big version of search ultimately kills revenue streams for the websites that Gemini depends on to train itself, what will be left for it to learn? As per Google's product page and presentation, AI Mode is rolling out to all users for free today, May 20, 2025. You can activate the feature yourself by opening up a fresh Google tab and clicking the "AI Mode" feature, highlighted above.

AI Mode Finally Arrives for Google Search - Phandroid

It's that time of the year once again -- and no, we're not talking about Christmas -- Google's annual I/O Conference is finally live, and we've gotten a ton of new updates on its many AI projects, including a new "AI Mode" for Google's Search services. the company says that its AI Overviews have already increased Google Search usage by over 10% in key markets like the U.S. and India. Google says that it's designed AI Mode to use advanced reasoning and multimodality, allowing users to ask more complex questions and delve deeper with follow-up queries and helpful web links. This includes a "query fan-out" technique that breaks down down questions into subtopics while simultaneously issuing multiple searches to unearth highly relevant content. As expected, AI Mode runs on Google's Gemini models with a custom version of Gemini 2.5 for both AI Mode and AI Overviews in the U.S. For AI Mode with Labs, Google has included a number of other features as well: Google says that these new features will first be available to Labs users in AI Mode in the coming weeks and months, allowing for feedback before wider rollout. AI Mode rolls out today in the U.S. without requiring Labs sign-up.

Google Rolls Out 'AI Mode' to U.S. Search Users

Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google is bringing "AI mode" to all users in the U.S. starting today, a move CEO Sundar Pichai called a "total reimagining of search." AI mode integrates an AI chatbot tool into search. Google showcased the offering, now free for all users, at its I/O conference Tuesday. The tool allows users to converse within Google Search the way they would with AI chatbots like OpenAI's ChatGPT. AI mode will appear as a tab alongside news, images, and others, the company said. The addition builds on Google's existing AI Overview offering, which the company announced at last year's I/O event. AI Overview usage has climbed to 1.5 billion monthly users, Pichai said. 'VIP Pass for Google AI' Also Announced Google also announced a subscription service called Google AI Ultra, which the company called a "VIP pass for Google AI." AI Ultra, currently available to U.S. users for $249.99 per month, includes access to the new Gemini 2.5 Pro Deep Think mode for research and the AI filmmaking tool Flow, among other features. The company also expanded its $19.99 Google AI Pro plan to include "a full suite of AI products with higher rate limits and special features compared to the free version." Google's Gemini has seen a larger increase in usage between September and March than its primary competitors, Meta AI, and ChatGPT, according to research from Morgan Stanley. In March, about 40% of Morgan Stanley survey respondents said they used Gemini on a monthly basis, compared with ChatGPT's 41% and Meta AI's 39%. Shares of Alphabet slid about 1.5% in Tuesday trading. The stock is down about 13% in 2025 so far.

Google's unleashes 'AI Mode' in the next phase of its journey to change search

The next phase outlined at Google's annual developers conference includes releasing a new "AI mode" option in the United States. The feature makes interacting with Google's search engine more like having a conversation with an expert capable of answering questions on just about any topic imaginable.Google on Tuesday unleashed another wave of artificial intelligence technology to accelerate a year-long makeover of its search engine that is changing the way people get information and curtailing the flow of internet traffic to websites. The next phase outlined at Google's annual developers conference includes releasing a new "AI mode" option in the United States. The feature makes interacting with Google's search engine more like having a conversation with an expert capable of answering questions on just about any topic imaginable. AI mode is being offered to all comers in the U.S. just two-and-a-half-months after the company began testing with a limited Labs division audience. Google is also feeding its latest AI model, Gemini 2.5, into its search algorithms and will soon begin testing other AI features, such as the ability to automatically buy concert tickets and conduct searches through live video feeds. In another example of Google's all-in approach to AI, the company revealed it is planning to leverage the technology to re-enter the smart glasses market with a new pair of Android XR-powered spectacles. The preview of the forthcoming device, which includes a hands-free camera and a voice-powered AI assistant, comes 13 years after the debut of "Google Glass," a product that the company scrapped after a public backlash over privacy concerns. Google didn't say when its Android XR glasses will be available or how much they will cost, but disclosed they will be designed in partnership with Gentle Monster and Warby Parker. The glasses will compete against a similar product already on the market from Facebook parent Meta Platforms and Ray-Ban. AI's big role in Google search The expansion builds upon a transformation that Google began a year ago with the introduction of conversational summaries called "AI overviews" that have been increasingly appearing at the top of its results page and eclipsing its traditional rankings of web links. About 1.5 billion people now regularly engage with "AI overviews," according to Google, and most users are now entering longer and more complex queries. "What all this progress means is that we are in a new phase of the AI platform shift, where decades of research are now becoming reality for people all over the world," Google CEO Sundar Pichai said before a packed crowd in an amphitheater near the company's Mountain View, California, headquarters. AI ripples across the internet Although Pichai and other Google executives predicted AI overviews would trigger more searches and ultimately more clicks to other sites, it hasn't worked out that way so far, according to the findings of search optimization firm BrightEdge. Clickthrough rates from Google's search results have declined by nearly 30% during the past year, according to BrightEdge's recently released study, which attributed the decrease to people becoming increasingly satisfied with AI overviews. The decision to make AI mode broadly available after a relatively short test period reflects Google's confidence that the technology won't habitually spew misinformation that tarnishes its brand's reputation, and acknowledges the growing competition from other AI-powered search options from the likes of ChatGPT and Perplexity. Will AI undercut or empower Google? The rapid rise of AI alternatives emerged as a recurring theme in legal proceedings that could force Google to dismantle parts of its internet empire after a federal judge last year declared its search engine to be an illegal monopoly. In testimony during a trial earlier this month, longtime Apple executive Eddy Cue said Google searches done through the iPhone maker's Safari browser have been declining because more people are leaning on AI-powered alternatives. And Google has cited the upheaval being caused by AI's rise as one of the main reasons that it should only be required to make relatively minor changes to the way it operates its search engine because technology already is changing the competitive landscape. But Google's reliance on more AI so far appears to be enabling its search engine to maintain its mantle as the internet's main gateway - a position that's main reason its corporate parent, Alphabet Inc., boasts a market value of $2 trillion. During the year ending in March, Google received 136 billion monthly visits, 34 times more than ChatGPT's average of 4 billion monthly visits, according to data compiled by onelittleweb.com. Even Google's own AI mode acknowledged that the company's search engine seems unlikely to be significantly hurt by the shift to AI technology when a reporter from The Associated Press asked whether its introduction would make the company even more powerful. "Yes, it is highly likely that Google's AI mode will make Google more powerful, particularly in the realm of information access and online influence," the AI mode responded. The feature also warns that web publishers should be concerned about AI mode reducing the traffic they get from search results. Even more AI waiting in the wings Google's upcoming tests in its Labs division foreshadow the next wave of AI technology likely to be made available to the masses. Besides using its Project Mariner technology to test the ability of an AI agent to buy tickets and book restaurant reservations, Google will also experiment with searches done through live video and an opt-in option to give its AI technology access to people's Gmail and other Google apps so it can learn more about a user's tastes and habits. Other features on this summer's test list include a "Deep Search" option that will use AI to dig even deeper into complex topics and another tool that will produce graphical presentations of sports and finance data. Google is also introducing its equivalent of a VIP pass to all its AI technology with an "Ultra" subscription package that will cost $250 per month and include 30 terabytes of storage, too. That's a big step beyond Google's previous top-of-the-line package, which is now called "AI "Pro," that costs $20 per month and includes two terabytes of storage.

Google's New AI Mode in Search was Inevitable

At the Google I/O 2025, Google announced a new revolutionary way for the users to get information from the search bar. The search bar, while already infused with AI (artificial intelligence) for results, has now been upgraded with a deeper integration of Gemini. Google's Gemini 2.5 is powering the search results for the users. From now onwards, users will have the option to search their queries in the AI Mode. The AI Mode was inevitable. Especially after companies like OpenAI that offers ChatGPT and Perplexity offered users a more convenient way to search for information. Read More - OnePlus 13 has This Amazing Feature That I LOVE Google's deep ecosystem of knowledge as well as the suite of apps such as Gmail, Calendar, Sheets, and more, will help users in enricing their search experience and using the G-Suite of apps on the go. The new AI Mode will provide users with the ability to search with longer sentences in natural language. Google has enabled the AI Mode to offer users the ability to create custom charts, advanced reasoning to solve problems, and agentic tasks like ticket buying. AI Mode is the natural next step for Google, and will definitely be an interesting tool for the users to play with. Read More - Nothing Phone (3) Launch Month Confirmed At the Google I/O 2025, there were more major announcements by the search engine giant. Google announced the new upgraded Gemini models including the Gemini 2.5 Pro and a newer flash model. Google's Project Astra was one of the most interesting follow ups in this year's developer conference. While Project Astra had been announced previously, Google gave the world a deeper look into its capabilities this time. It will be interesting to see when the Project Astra finally becomes a common tool in an average person's life.

Google Begins Adding AI Mode to Search Experience in US | PYMNTS.com

AI Mode will appear in a new tab in Search and in the search bar in the Google app, according to a Tuesday blog post. The company began testing AI Mode, which is its most powerful AI search, after rolling out AI Overviews last year and hearing from users that they want an end-to-end AI Search experience, according to the post. "AI in Search is making it easier to ask Google anything and get a helpful response, with links to the web," Google Vice President and Head of Search Elizabeth Reid wrote in the post. "That's why AI Overviews is one of the most successful launches in Search in the past decade. As people use AI Overviews, we see they're happier with their results, and they search more often." AI Mode dives deeper into the web than traditional searches on Google and delivers more relevant content, according to the post. Over time, the company will incorporate more of AI Mode's features and capabilities into the core Search experience. When Google announced the beginning of its test of AI Mode in March, the company said this search experience brings the user into an AI chatbot-like conversation but adds real-time search information, shopping and other sources of information. The general availability of AI Mode in the U.S. came as investors in Google and Apple are reportedly uneasy about the growing popularity of AI search offered by tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT. Google also announced in the Tuesday blog post that it is working on several new capabilities for AI Mode that will be launched first in Google Labs. These include a Deep Search that will issue hundreds of searches and create a report within minutes; Search Live that will answer questions about what is seen through the user's camera; agentic capabilities that will help find and purchase products, beginning with event tickets, restaurant reservations and local appointments; a shopping experience that will let users virtually try on apparel by loading an image of themselves; and personalized suggestions based on the user's past searches, per the post.

Google pushes AI search, subscriptions at annual conference

STORY: Google is doubling down on AI-powered search. The tech giant said Tuesday that its latest system would allow users to ask almost anything, from simple queries to the most complex research questions. Sundar Pichai - the boss of parent firm Alphabet - set out the new AI Mode at the tech giant's annual conference in California: "Users have been asking much longer queries, two to three times the length of traditional searches, and you can go further with follow up questions. All of this is available today as a new tab right in search." The new search mode is powered by Google's Gemini AI model. Over time, its abilities will be integrated into the regular search box. Tuesday also saw the demonstration of other products, including smart glasses. They also feature AI integration, and claim to offer simultaneous translation between languages. Google also launched a subscription option priced at just under $250 per month. It offers users higher limits on AI usage and early access to experimental tools, including a browser extension dubbed Project Mariner: "It's an agent that can interact with the web and get stuff done. Stepping back, we think of agents as assistants that combine the intelligence of advanced AI models with access to tools. They can take actions on your behalf and under your control... And we are starting to bring agentic capabilities to Chrome, search, and the Gemini app." All the activity comes as Google feels the pressure to stay ahead of rivals like OpenAI. The ChatGPT maker is among firms offering their own take on AI search, potentially threatening Google's core business.