What is AI Mode, Google's new artificial intelligence search tech?

Google on Tuesday rolled out AI Mode, its latest artificial intelligence feature designed to provide users with more detailed and tailored responses to questions entered into the search engine.

Unveiled Tuesday at the search giant's annual Google I/O developer conference, AI Mode comes a year after the company introduced AI Overviews, its first tool to use generative AI technology to enhance its search engine capabilities.

Sundar Pichai, CEO of both Google and parent company,Alphabet, said in remarks at the conference that AI Mode represents a "total reimagining of Search" and that it would gradually be rolled out to all Google users.

"What all this progress means is that we are in a new phase of the AI platform shift, where decades of research are now becoming reality for people all over the world," Pichai told the crowd yesterday at an amphitheater near the company's headquarters in Mountain View, California, according to the Associated Press.

A video teasing the technology showcases how it works. In response to lengthy, detailed questions typed into Google search, AI Mode displays how many searches Google is performing and how many sites it's scanning as the technology quickly generates a summarized response at the top of the search platform. It also provides a side bar with links to relevant sites.

Google said it's also testing a "Search Live" feature that will enable the search engine to respond to questions based on video content, as well as voice searches, or to questions verbalized by the user, rather than typed.

As an example, Google's teaser shows a person recording a video of themselves holding a bridge made of Popsicle sticks while asking the search engine what can be done to strengthen the structure. "To make it stronger, consider adding more triangles to the design," an automated voice responds.

Google said it will begin feeding its latest AI model, Gemini 2.5, into its search engine starting next week. The company calls Gemini 2.5 its "most intelligent model" yet.

The California-based company began testing AI Mode in March of this year. Google's latest AI search tool builds on AI Overviews, which was introduced in the U.S. in May 2024 and has 1.5 billion users, according to an article on the Google website.

Some argue that AI Overviews, which provides an AI-generated summary of information online, at times eliminating the need to click directly on source links for further information, has undercut traffic to their sites. According to a study by Ahrefs, AI Overviews led to a 35% lower average click-through rates for top-ranking pages on search engine results pages.

"By making AI Mode a core part of the experience, Google is betting it can cater to the demand for AI without alienating its massive base," Gadjo Sevilla, a senior analyst for research firm eMarketer, wrote in a blog post. "But there are risks for hallucinations and factual errors which could drive users towards competitors," he added.

Such factual errors were spotted with AI Overviews soon after its release, prompting Google to admit in a statement at the time that the technology produced "some odd and erroneous overviews." In one instance, AI Overviews suggested that users add glue to pizza or eat at least one small rock a day, according to the MIT Technology Review.

As for AI Mode, Google has indicated that its new AI search tech is performing well and serving its intended purpose.

"We conduct quantitative research and collect in-product feedback to ask users whether they're satisfied with their results. And we've seen that introducing AI Overviews on Search leads to an increase in satisfaction and reported helpfulness," a Google spokesperson told CBS MoneyWatch.

In:
• Google
• Artificial Intelligence
• AI