Tech giant Google has announced the rollout of its AI mode in search, which lets users ask complex questions, signaling a new era of user search experience.
On Tuesday, the company announced this update at its annual developer conference, Google I/O 2025.
Announcing the launch, Google wrote,
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“Since launching last year, AI Overviews have scaled to over 1.5 billion users and are now in 200 countries and territories. As people use AI Overviews, we see they’re happier with their results, and they search more often. In our biggest markets like the U.S. and India, AI Overviews are driving over 10% growth in the types of queries that show them, and this growth increases over time. It’s one of the most successful launches in Search in the past decade.
“For those who want an end-to-end AI Search experience, we’re introducing an all-new AI Mode. It’s a total reimagining of Search. With more advanced reasoning, you can ask AI Mode longer and more complex queries. Early testers have been asking queries that are two to three times the length of traditional searches, and you can go further with follow-up questions. All of this is available as a new tab right in Search.”
Instead of a traditional list of links, AI Mode generates direct, AI-driven answers using Google’s search index, similar to chatbots like ChatGPT or Perplexity. It’s designed for nuanced or exploratory questions, such as comparing products or diving into complex topics. Users can input queries via text, voice, or images (e.g., uploading a photo to ask about a product or scene). This integrates with Google Lens for enhanced visual search.
AI Mode is Google’s direct response to the release of search engines from Silicon Valley startups like OpenAI and Perplexity, which provide chatbot-style answers to questions and queries. The feature which will roll out to users in the U.S. starting this week, builds on Google’s existing AI-powered search experience, AI overviews, which display AI-generated summaries at the top of its search results page. Both AI Overviews and AI Mode will now use a custom version of Gemini 2.5, and Google says that AI Mode’s capabilities will gradually roll out to AI Overviews over time.
Also, Google disclosed that search results will be personalized based on users’ past searches, and if they choose to connect their Google Apps using a feature that will roll out this summer. For instance, if they connect their Gmail, Google could know about their travel dates from a booking confirmation email and then use that to recommend events in the city they are visiting that will be taking place while they are there.
Before the integration of AI to search, CEO Sundar Pichai has flagged this feature as a top priority, emphasizing that Google is leaning in heavily on AI. It is understood that search remains the engine that drives Alphabet’s business, hence the need for the upgrade.
Google’s AI mode is part of its response to growing competition from AI-first platforms like ChatGPT and Microsoft’s Bing with Copilot. By embedding generative AI directly into Search, Google is reshaping the web discovery process and redefining what users expect from search engines.
The idea behind AI Overviews is to deliver quick, summarized answers to complex questions—helping users get what they need without digging through multiple links. But recent data suggests this convenience is coming at the expense of traffic to the very sites that supply the information.
Google’s integration of AI Mode into its dominant search engine (over 90% global search market share) gives it a massive reach advantage. With no login required for AI Overviews and easy access, Google can capture users seeking conversational or multimodal search, challenging chatbots’ user bases.
Looking ahead
Google’s AI Mode raises the stakes for AI chatbots by blending advanced AI with its unparalleled search infrastructure. The shift toward AI-driven search could redefine how users interact with information, pushing chatbots to adapt or risk losing ground.