Google elevates search experience with new ‘AI mode’

Google has rolled out a new artificial intelligence (AI) mode in its search engine that allows it to function similarly to an AI chatbot, aiming to provide users with a more conversational and intuitive experience. 

Rolling out across US starting Tuesday (20 May), the new feature builds on the AI Overviews introduced last year, which have led to an increase in search activity in major markets such as US and India. According to Google, users who engaged with AI Overviews reported a 10% increase in search frequency for queries that utilise this feature.

The AI Mode seeks to transform how people interact with Google Search by enabling them to ask more complex and multimodal questions. It is designed to offer advanced reasoning and deeper engagement through follow-up questions, allowing users to receive more tailored results. By employing a technique called "query fan-out", AI Mode can break down a user’s question into subtopics and conduct multiple searches simultaneously, thereby unearthing a broader range of relevant content from the web.

In addition to AI Mode, Google is introducing Deep Search capabilities, which allow for comprehensive research by issuing hundreds of searches to generate expert-level reports quickly. The integration of live capabilities, powered by Google Lens, enables real-time interactions, allowing users to ask questions about what they see through their camera.

For example, if users are feeling stumped on a project and need some help, they can tap the “Live” icon in AI Mode or in Lens, point their camera, and ask their question. Just like that, Search becomes a learning partner that can see what users see — explaining tricky concepts and offering suggestions along the way, as well as links to different resources that they can explore, such as websites, videos and forums.

Furthermore, Google is incorporating agentic features that assist users with tasks such as purchasing event tickets. By initiating a query fan-out, AI Mode can analyse various options and present them to users, streamlining the purchasing process.

The new AI shopping experience combines the Gemini model with Google’s Shopping Graph, allowing users to virtually try on clothing and facilitating purchases through Google Pay. Furthermore, AI Mode will soon offer personalised suggestions based on users’ search histories and other Google app data, enhancing the relevance of search results.

Visualising data will also be made easier, as AI Mode will analyse datasets and generate custom charts and graphs, particularly for sports and finance queries.

Additional features of AI Mode are expected to be available to Labs users in the coming weeks. Google has also encouraged users to opt into the AI Mode experiment to be among the first to test these new functionalities.

Don’t miss: With cookies still on the menu, can marketers afford to wait on privacy reform?

Back in April, Google halted its plan to phase out third-party cookies so that it would not be rolling out a standalone prompt for third-party cookies and would maintain its current approach to offering users third-party cookie choice in Chrome. 

"As we’ve engaged with the ecosystem, including publishers, developers, regulators, and the ads industry, it remains clear that there are divergent perspectives on making changes that could impact the availability of third-party cookies," said Anthony Chavez, vice president of the Google-backed Privacy Sandbox initiative, in a blog post on Privacy Sandbox.

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