Imagine pointing your phone at a pair of sneakers and asking, “Will these look good on me?” Google’s AI Mode, unveiled at Google I/O 2025, makes this a reality. Now live across the US, this AI-powered search revolution delivers smarter answers, virtual try-ons, and even completes purchases for you. From Deep Search reports to real-time visual queries, Google is redefining how we explore the web. Dive into the future of search and its game-changing features.
What Is AI Mode?
Google’s AI Mode is a reimagined search experience that goes beyond the traditional “10 blue links.” It leverages the Gemini 2.5 model to offer advanced reasoning, multimodality (text, voice, and images), and the ability to handle complex, nuanced queries. Unlike the standard search, AI Mode uses a “query fan-out” technique, breaking down questions into subtopics and running multiple searches simultaneously to deliver comprehensive answers.
For example, asking, “What’s the best foldable camping chair under $100 that fits in a backpack?” yields a detailed breakdown of products, complete with retailer links and specifications, in seconds.
“AI Mode is Search transformed—our most powerful AI search yet, designed to tackle harder questions and make life easier,” said Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO.
Key Features Driving the Change
Deep Search: Research at Lightning Speed
For those diving into complex topics, Deep Search is a game-changer. This feature can issue hundreds of queries, analyze disparate information, and produce fully cited, expert-level reports in minutes. Imagine a student researching “the impact of climate change on Arctic ecosystems.” Instead of sifting through dozens of websites, Deep Search delivers a synthesized report with citations, saving hours of work.
Liz Reid, Google’s head of Search, noted, “Deep Search uses query fan-out to a new level, reasoning across sources to create reports that rival human expertise.”
Live Search: Seeing Is Searching
Building on Google Lens, which is used by 1.5 billion people monthly, Live Search (part of Project Astra) allows users to point their camera at an object and ask questions in real-time. Picture a tourist in Paris pointing their phone at a statue and asking, “Who sculpted this?” AI Mode responds with historical context, artist details, and links to further resources. Set to roll out in beta this summer, Live Search turns your phone into a “learning partner.”
Personalized Search: Tailored to You
AI Mode’s personalization feature integrates with Google apps, such as Gmail (with user consent), to deliver tailored results. For instance, searching “things to do in Nashville this weekend with friends, we’re big foodies” might pull restaurant suggestions based on past bookings or searches.
Reid explained, “Personalization makes Search feel like it knows you, but you’re in control of what data we use.” This feature, however, won’t be available in the European Economic Area, Switzerland, or the UK due to privacy regulations.
AI-Powered Shopping and Virtual Try-On
Shopping gets a futuristic makeover with Google AI Mode’s new features. Users can virtually try on billions of apparel items by uploading a photo, thanks to a custom image generation model that understands how clothes drape on various body types. Searching for a “cute travel bag for Portland in May” triggers a query fan-out, suggesting waterproof options suited for rainy weather. The Shopping Graph, with over 50 billion product listings updated hourly, ensures that data is always fresh.
The agentic checkout feature takes it further: users can set a price target, and Google will monitor listings, completing purchases via Google Pay when the price drops to meet the target. “It’s like having a personal shopper who never sleeps,” said a Google spokesperson.
Agentic Capabilities: Automating the Tedious
AI Mode’s agentic features aim to handle mundane tasks. Need tickets for a Reds game? Ask, “Find two affordable tickets for Saturday’s game in the lower level,” and AI Mode will scour sites, compare prices, and fill out forms. Partnerships with Ticketmaster and Resy will soon enable restaurant reservations and local appointments, streamlining daily tasks.
Custom Charts: Visualizing Data
While not exclusive to AI Mode, Google’s AI enhancements in tools like Google Sheets allow users to create custom charts from complex datasets. For example, a small business owner analyzing sales data can get AI-suggested visualizations, making trends easier to spot. This capability hints at future integrations within AI Mode for data-driven searches.
Background: A Year of AI Evolution
Google’s journey to AI Mode began with AI Overviews, launched at I/O 2024. These summaries, now used by over 1.5 billion monthly users in 200 countries, have increased search usage by 10% in markets such as the US and India. The success of AI Overviews, coupled with user demand for deeper, more interactive searches, paved the way for AI Mode. Initially tested in Search Labs, the rollout of the AI Model to all US users marks a pivotal moment.
As Pichai noted, “Search is moving from information to intelligence.”
The urgency to innovate stems partly from the need to stay competitive. Since OpenAI’s ChatGPT sparked an AI race in 2022, Google has faced pressure to maintain its search dominance. With ChatGPT boasting 160 million daily users compared to Google’s Gemini at 35 million, the stakes are high. AI Mode is Google’s answer, blending its vast data resources—like the Shopping Graph and Knowledge Graph—with cutting-edge AI.
Stakeholder Perspectives
Users: Smarter, Faster Searches
Early testers praise AI Mode’s speed and depth. A San Francisco user shared, “I asked AI Mode about a local restaurant, and it provided a detailed menu breakdown—although it missed the fact that the place had closed.” Google acknowledges such hiccups, encouraging feedback via thumbs-up and thumbs-down icons to refine the system.
Businesses: Opportunities and Challenges
For businesses, AI Mode offers new visibility through links in AI-generated responses. Google reports that AI Overviews drive more clicks to diverse websites than traditional results. However, some analysts worry that reduced traffic to external sites, as users obtain answers directly from AI summaries, may impact ad revenue.
Advertisers using Performance Max or Shopping campaigns can still appear in AI Mode, and Google’s AI Essentials guide helps businesses optimize for this shift. Retailers like Pretty Little Thing have already adapted, creating content clusters tied to travel destinations to boost relevance.
Critics: Privacy and Monopoly Concerns
Privacy advocates raise flags about personalization. Geoffrey Fowler of The Washington Post warned, “The devil will be in the details for your privacy,” citing rival Meta’s controversial data integrations. Antitrust concerns also loom, with some viewing AI Mode as a defensive move amid legal scrutiny over Google’s market dominance.
Broader Implications
AI Mode signals a paradigm shift in how we access information. By automating tasks and delivering tailored, multimodal answers, Google is turning Search into a personal assistant. This could redefine industries like e-commerce, where virtual try-ons and agentic checkouts streamline shopping, or education, where Deep Search empowers students.
However, challenges remain. AI’s occasional errors—like missing a restaurant’s closure—highlight the need for ongoing refinement. Monetization is another hurdle. Google’s new “Ultra” subscription tier, at $250 per month, suggests a pivot to premium AI services, but analysts question whether this can offset potential ad revenue losses.
Looking Ahead
Google’s AI Mode is more than a feature—it’s a vision of a smarter, more intuitive internet. As Live Search and agentic capabilities roll out this summer, users can expect even richer interactions. Yet, the balance between innovation, privacy, and profitability will shape its success. Will Google maintain its search dominance, or will competitors like OpenAI close the gap? For now, AI Mode is a bold step into uncharted territory, inviting us all to search differently.
As Reid put it, “We’re not just connecting you to the web—we’re helping you understand the world.”