The move to make search more efficient with generative AI is a clear shot at OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Perplexity, an AI-powered search engine.
Google has announced plans to expand generative AI’s presence in its search services with the launch of an experimental new chatbot, designed to help users “access more breadth and depth of information than a traditional search on Google,” according to a blog post announcing the new product. The company also announced updates to its controversial AI overviews, which provide a brief snapshot of key information related to a given Google search.
The company has launched ‘AI Mode,’ an alternative to its traditional search interface. Unlike the default version of Google, AI Mode functions like a chatbot. Users can ask the chatbot a question, and the chatbot will use Google to search the web for information in order to quickly deliver an answer, complete with cited sources and links.
In addition to conducting Google searches, AI Mode will integrate the company’s information systems, such as its stock market and weather trackers or shopping data. Google anticipates that one major use of AI Mode will be helping consumers find the right product for their specific needs and understand the differences between similar products.
Google said in its blog post that it was expanding its AI search ambitions because “we’ve heard from power users that they want AI responses for even more of their search.” The company first attempted AI-augmented search with AI overviews, a feature in which an AI-generated answer to a Google search is posted at the top of the search results. Overviews debuted in May of 2024 to decidedly mixed reactions, but Google says it is one of the company’s “most popular services,” with over one billion global users. Notably, Google neglected to mention that overviews were automatically added to most users’ search experience, provided they were logged in to a Google account.
AI Mode’s introduction signals that Google has a vision for the future of search that fully eliminates the need for users to choose from a set of websites, and instead acts more like a conversational assistant that can trawl the internet for you and only surface the best content. The move is a clear shot at OpenAI, which recently debuted a new feature that enables ChatGPT to search the internet, and Perplexity, an AI-powered search engine that is directly competing with Google.
Google also announced that the overviews have been upgraded with Gemini 2.0, the latest version of the company’s series of AI models. Google says the new model will enable AI overviews to assist with a larger variety of questions and challenges, including “coding, advanced math, and multimodal queries.” The company added that teenagers can now use AI overviews, which going forward will appear even for users without Google accounts. Google analyses search history data to estimate users’ ages.
“As with any early-stage AI product,” Google said, “we won’t always get it right,” warning that AI Mode chatbot could appear biased on certain subjects. Currently, AI Mode is only available to paid Google One AI Premium subscribers.
