Google's new AI Mode might change search forever

Google just dropped a minor bombshell at its latest I/O conference, taking the wraps off a new addition to its search offering – AI Mode. The new tab will be available while you search the web, right alongside the "Images", "Shopping" tabs and more.

It basically takes the AI overviews and features that have been creeping into the regular search experience over the last year or more, and makes them the whole point of the search. Google says it will use AI Mode as its release ground for new features, adding new integrations and options there first.

Those with eagle eyes will have noticed that AI Mode isn't debuting for the very first time – it was actually shown off in a more experimental phase earlier this year. Today, Google clearly feels confident enough to launch it in the US, with the rest of the world not yet included.

Part of what differentiates AI Mode from regular web searches is that it can be personalised if you're logged into Google. This means Google's Gemini AI can effectively cross-reference its responses against what it knows about your schedule, history and more.

You can take part in a conversation much like you would with a chatbot, except with your search integrated right alongside it, refined as you respond and ask follow-ups.

Google also showed how the mode will soon be able to use agentic tools to actually navigate sites for you, including making reservations (among other options), right from a search rather than in its own Gemini tab.

Deep Search is another part of the mode that will go even deeper, and apparently offers an "expert level" of analysis in a few minutes, rather than the split-second searches that most people normally want.

Anyone wondering whether this means any changes in the AI features that have been integrated into "regular" searches won't have a clear answer yet. This basically means that until Google says otherwise, those AI summaries will continue to be surfaced outside AI Mode, now with upgrades from Gemini.

If you're an old-school Google loyalist, this might not be the sort of search purity that you're looking for (shoutout to DuckDuckGo, in that case). Still, it's hardly news that Google has been going hard on AI, and this very much underlines that trend further.