Google unveils expanded AI search features with Gemini upgrade

Google has announced the expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) features in Search, introducing several new capabilities designed to provide users with more advanced and tailored search results in the United States.

AI Overviews, first launched last year, has reportedly influenced a shift in how users engage with Google Search. According to the company, there has been a noticeable increase in more complex and multimodal queries as people make use of AI-powered responses that include links to the web. The company stated, "People are coming to Google to ask more of their questions, including more complex, longer and multimodal questions. AI in Search is making it easier to ask Google anything and get a helpful response, with links to the web. That's why AI Overviews is one of the most successful launches in Search in the past decade."

Google revealed that in its largest markets, such as the United States and India, the adoption of AI Overviews has led to double-digit growth in usage for query types supported by this feature. The press release noted, "As people use AI Overviews, we see they're happier with their results, and they search more often. In our biggest markets like the U.S. and India, AI Overviews is driving over 10% increase in usage of Google for the types of queries that show AI Overviews. This means that once people use AI Overviews, they're coming to do more of these types of queries, and what's particularly exciting is how this growth increases over time."

The company also emphasised the performance of its AI models, stating, "We're delivering this at the speed people expect of Google Search — AI Overviews delivers the fastest AI responses in the industry."

In response to requests from more advanced users, Google is introducing AI Mode in Search, which will now be available nationwide in the United States without the need for sign-up. The company explained, "AI Mode is our most powerful AI search, with more advanced reasoning and multimodality, and the ability to go deeper through follow-up questions and helpful links to the web. Over the coming weeks, you'll see a new tab for AI Mode appear in Search and in the search bar in the Google app."

AI Mode utilises a technique known as query fan-out, which breaks down user questions into subtopics and issues multiple queries at once. According to the company, this allows Search to "dive deeper into the web than a traditional search on Google, helping you discover even more of what the web has to offer and find incredible, hyper-relevant content that matches your question. AI Mode is where we'll first bring Gemini's frontier capabilities, and it's also a glimpse of what's to come. As we get feedback, we'll graduate many features and capabilities from AI Mode right into the core Search experience."

This week, Google is deploying a custom version of its Gemini 2.5 language model for both AI Mode and AI Overviews. Details about upcoming advanced features were also provided: "We also showed new advanced capabilities coming to AI Mode, which will be launching first in Labs in the coming months, to get feedback and input from power users."

One of the forthcoming enhancements is Deep Search, designed for more comprehensive research. The company said, "For questions where you want an even more thorough response, we're bringing deep research capabilities into AI Mode with Deep Search. Deep Search uses the same query fan-out technique but taken to the next level. It can issue hundreds of searches, reason across disparate pieces of information, and create an expert-level fully-cited report in just minutes, saving you hours of research."

Google is also introducing live capabilities that build upon the existing Google Lens functionality. "We've continued to push the boundaries of visual search with Google Lens, which more than 1.5 billion people are using to search what they see every month. Now, we're taking the next step in multimodality by bringing Project Astra's live capabilities into Search. With Search Live, you can talk back-and-forth with Search about what you see in real-time, using your camera."

AI Mode will soon feature agentic capabilities from Project Mariner, enabling the automation of tasks such as finding and purchasing tickets. Google explained, "Often you come to Search to get something done, and now we're bringing the agentic capabilities of Project Mariner into AI Mode, to help save you time with tasks like purchasing tickets. Just ask, 'Find 2 affordable tickets for this Saturday's Reds game in the lower level' and AI Mode will kick off a query fan-out, looking across sites to analyze hundreds of potential ticket options with real-time pricing and inventory, and handle the tedious work of filling in forms."

The rollout will initially cover event tickets, restaurant reservations and local appointments, in collaboration with companies such as Ticketmaster, StubHub, Resy and Vagaro.

Google highlighted improvements to online shopping with AI Mode's new shopping experience, saying, "The new AI Mode shopping experience brings together Gemini model capabilities with our Shopping Graph to help you browse for inspiration, think through considerations, and narrow down products. If you want to see how an outfit looks on you, you can try on billions of apparel listings virtually, just by uploading a single image of yourself."

Users will also have access to a new agentic checkout feature to manage purchases through Google Pay, with the company noting, "When you've found the perfect item, you can ask our new agentic checkout feature to buy it on your behalf with Google Pay when the price is right, always with your guidance and oversight."

To provide personalised results, AI Mode will soon offer suggestions based on past searches and, with user consent, draw on information from other Google apps such as Gmail. Google explained, "You can also opt in to connect other Google apps, starting with Gmail, to bring in more of your personal context. For example, if you're searching for 'things to do in nashville this weekend with friends, we're big foodies who like music' ahead of an upcoming trip, AI Mode can show you restaurants with outdoor seating based on your past restaurant bookings and searches."

Additionally, AI Mode will be able to analyse datasets and provide custom charts for queries in areas such as sports and finance. "When you need some extra help crunching numbers or visualizing data, AI Mode will analyze complex datasets and create graphics that bring them to life, all custom built for your query. Perhaps you want to compare the home field advantage for two different baseball teams. Search will provide an analysis and generate an interactive graph to address your specific question, using Google's real-time sports information."

AI Mode is being rolled out to users in the United States, with new features to be introduced to Labs participants in the coming weeks and months as Google gathers feedback.