Google is intensifying efforts to make Search more personal than ever, with plans to introduce an “AI Mode” capable of drawing insights from users’ Gmail, Drive, and other Google apps.
The feature, now under development, is seen as part of the company’s broader push to redefine how people interact with Search—potentially transforming the internet’s information flow and disrupting traditional web traffic patterns.
In a recent podcast with Silicon Valley Girl, Google’s Robby Stein confirmed that the company is “exploring ways” to integrate AI Mode across its ecosystem.
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“We announced at I/O an opportunity for users in the future to be able to opt into an experience with enhanced personalization,” Stein said. “We want people to be able to help Google and help the services know more about you so that it can be more helpful.”
The upcoming AI Mode would be capable of pulling real-time data from Gmail, Calendar, Maps, and Drive to deliver uniquely customized results. It could summarize flight bookings from Gmail, generate schedules automatically, or pull travel recommendations based on saved itineraries and map searches—all without users having to navigate multiple pages or apps.
This direction builds on Google’s ongoing rollout of its AI Overview, a generative feature that places AI-written summaries directly at the top of search results. The feature, powered by the company’s Gemini model, aims to provide direct answers rather than simply linking to external websites.
However, this shift has already begun to affect online publishers and media outlets that rely heavily on Google traffic. Multiple analytics firms have reported significant declines in referral visits since AI Overviews began appearing in search results earlier this year. Because users can now get summarized answers immediately on Google’s results page, they are less likely to click through to original sources—a trend that some publishers warn could threaten the economics of online journalism.
In September, Penske Media Corporation (PMC), owner of titles including Rolling Stone, Billboard, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, Vibe, and Artforum, filed a lawsuit accusing the tech giant of illegally repurposing news content to generate AI summaries that undercut publishers’ business models.
But Google has pushed back, insisting that its AI tools aren’t killing publisher traffic, even as its own product strategy and external data suggest otherwise. In a blog, Google’s Head of Search, Liz Reid, disputed claims that the company’s AI-driven features are siphoning off clicks. Reid wrote that total organic click volume from Google Search to websites has remained “relatively stable” year-over-year, and even claimed that the “average click quality” — measured by whether users linger on a page — has “slightly increased.”
“User trends are shifting traffic to different sites,” Reid noted, adding that “people are increasingly seeking out and clicking on sites with forums, videos, podcasts, and posts where they can hear authentic voices and first-hand perspectives.”
Stein, however, framed the upcoming personalization as a user-centric innovation, saying that the experience will remain optional.
“We did launch recently some steps in this direction. So in Labs now, you can opt into a new experiment for personalizing shopping and local recommendations for restaurants,” he explained.
It is not yet clear whether Google will train its AI models directly on users’ personal data, but the company insists the experience will be opt-in and privacy-controlled. Still, the growing integration of AI into Search—combined with access to personal information—marks a fundamental shift in how Google positions itself: no longer just an index of the web, but an intelligent assistant capable of predicting needs and producing original answers.
It is believed that as AI Overviews evolve and personalization deepens, Google’s Search could move further away from the traditional web model that sustains much of the internet’s publishing economy. While the company argues that AI-enhanced Search will improve user satisfaction, the looming question remains whether the convenience of personalization will come at the expense of the open web.