Google is adding AI Mode to Search, here is how it works

India Today

02-05-2025

The AI-fication of Google Search has levelled up. Google is rolling out a major upgrade to its Search experience with a new AI Mode, allowing users to ask complex questions and receive detailed, personalised results – all within the Search interface. The feature combines Search's real-time information access with AI capabilities to create a more intelligent search engine experience. It can be especially helpful for tasks like planning a holiday. With AI Mode, a single search could bring together details like ticket information, weather updates, and things to do, all in one place.advertisementThe feature is somewhat of an extension or the next step to the AI Overviews that you see in Google Search right now. Currently, when you search on Google you see an AI-generated summary on top, which is based on information from all the links below. AI Mode will be that but more detailed and personalised. The feature has been available as part of the experimental Labs. However, only to a select number of users – Google has a waitlist thing. But Google says that AI Mode will now be available to all Labs users in the US. That would still be a small number. 'We're removing the waitlist so anyone in the US can now get immediate access to AI Mode in Labs,' said Soufi Esmaeilzadeh, Director of Product Management for Google Search.advertisement
Google says the AI Mode works best on mobile, especially for multimodal queries that include both text and images.If you are in India and you want to try out the feature, you should sign up to Google Experimental Labs.Google is also experimenting with bringing AI Mode outside of Labs. A small percentage of US users will start to see an AI Mode tab directly in the main Search interface.Google says that besides providing answers to layered queries (like comparing the best health insurance), the AI Mode also supports follow-up questions and can tailor its results as users refine what they're looking for. Additionally, Google says it has also added new visual elements to the results in AI Mode. Over the next week, users will begin seeing rich visual cards for local businesses and products. These cards will offer key details such as ratings, opening hours, pricing, current promotions, and even real-time availability from nearby stores. Tapping on a product or place will pull up further details, allowing users to dig deeper or take immediate action like placing a call or getting directions.These results are powered by Google's Shopping Graph — a massive and constantly updated index of over 45 billion product listings. According to the company, more than 2 billion of these listings are refreshed every hour, ensuring users receive current, trustworthy data.advertisementIn addition to that, Google says that users in AI Mode will now also be able to revisit past searches. On the desktop, a new left-side panel will soon appear, allowing users to pick up where they left off. This is especially helpful for long-running tasks like planning a trip or making a big purchase. Each topic in the panel includes previously surfaced information, and users can continue asking follow-up questions without starting from scratch.'So many of the questions people ask are part of longer-running tasks and projects, and often they want to get back to the information they found. So now, we're making it easier to jump right back in on desktop,' Google's blog post reads.The company emphasises that these changes are still evolving and encourages users to try AI Mode via the Labs feature in the Google app. Esmaeilzadeh added, 'We'll continue to quickly improve and evolve AI Mode based on your input.'The AI Mode update to Google Search comes as the company is facing a critical lawsuit in the US wherein the court has ruled that the company is a monopolist in the search market. The case is currently in the remedies phase and there is a possibility that Google could be forced to sell Chrome and Chromium platform. Tune In