What Is Google’s AI Mode?
AI Mode is a Google Search feature that uses generative AI to provide answers to a user’s query.
AI Mode transforms Google Search into an answer engine that delivers in-depth responses to queries. In many cases, it not only provides the direct answer but also anticipates and includes answers to follow-up questions a user might ask next.
Google AI Mode is more comprehensive than similar Google generative AI features, such as AI Overviews. This makes it a more direct competitor to answer engines like Perplexity AI and AI chatbots with answer engine capabilities, such as ChatGPT Search.
Google AI Mode is powered by the Google Gemini large language model (LLM), which also powers the Gemini AI chatbot and AI Overviews.
Talking of AI Overviews, AI Mode is an upgrade and expansion of AI Overview, which displays AI-generated summaries on Google search results pages. For example, this is what AI Overviews look like on Google results pages.
Google released AI Mode in March 2025. Its release was limited to the United States and was available only in English. It was later expanded to 180+ countries in August 2025.
In this article, we’ll cover:
What’s New in Google AI Mode
The primary benefit of the Google AI Mode is its ability to improve and supercharge the results Google returns for your search queries.
Instead of just acting like a regular search engine with AI features (which AI Overviews does), AI Mode transforms Google into an AI-powered search engine, also known as an answer engine.
This means that AI Mode can perform tasks that exceed the capabilities of regular Google Search. For instance, they can answer complex queries and provide responses to questions related to math and coding.
This makes AI Mode Google’s equivalent of answer engines like Perplexity AI. Many also consider AI Mode a direct competitor to ChatGPT, particularly its search feature, which allows ChatGPT to function like an answer engine.
Aside from serving as an answer engine, AI Mode integrates with multiple Google products, including Google Shopping and Google Maps. This allows it to perform additional tasks, such as finding restaurant reservations.
For instance, you can enter a prompt like this into Google AI Mode:
“My friends and I want to go out on Saturday night. Find a restaurant for six people so that we can make a reservation.”
In response, AI Mode will find a relevant restaurant along with links to their reservation page.
AI Mode also allows you to return to your conversation. Unlike regular Google searches, where each new query is typically treated as a distinct experience, AI Mode will enable you to continue the same search later.
AI Mode also introduces collaborative capabilities to the search experience. This means you send the links of your AI Mode search to your friends, and they can continue where you stopped.
With that said, AI Mode, like all other answer engines and AI chatbots, is undergoing continuous improvements and refinements, which can change its features, appearance, and capabilities over time.
How Google AI Mode Works
Google AI Mode works by expanding a search query into multiple sub-queries, which it then answers collectively as a single result.
For example, let us assume a person is new to yoga. They can enter a query like “I am new to yoga. What do I need to know?” into Google.
AI Mode will then break this query into relevant and related sub-queries, like:
- How do I get started with yoga
- What do I wear for yoga
- What are some basic yoga etiquette
- What are some common yoga terms
- What are the benefits of yoga
AI Mode will then include responses to these subqueries in its reply.
This practice of breaking queries into sub-queries and then answering them in a single response is known as the query fan-out technique.
This technique enables answer engines and AI chatbots to possess various capabilities, including the ability to provide comprehensive answers to users.
Google AI Mode vs. AI Overviews vs. Gemini
Google AI Mode, AI Overviews, and Gemini are three generative AI features and products owned by Google and powered by the Gemini large language model. However, they serve different purposes:
- Google AI Mode is an answer engine built into Google Search
- Gemini is an AI chatbot for general queries and productivity tasks
- AI Overviews is a search results page feature that summarizes information from multiple sources
In all, AI Mode is the closest to a regular search engine. We should also remember that it is an expansion of AI Overviews. Google has also confirmed that it will extend multiple AI Mode features and capabilities to the core search experience in the future.
Importance of AI Mode
AI Mode is important because it turns Google into an answer engine. This provides it with multiple capabilities that are not available in the regular Google Search.
Before AI Mode, a user will visit one or more results on the search results page to see which one answers their query. However, with AI Mode, the answer is extracted from multiple sources and presented to the user on a single page.
This makes Google more conversational, intelligent, and useful to the user. It also increases the user’s chances of finding answers that are highly relevant to their query.
For context, here is the Google results page for the query, “What are the colors in the rainbow?” From the image, we can see that the regular results and even AI Overviews only list the seven colors in the rainbow.
On the other hand, AI Mode lists the seven colors, but also responds to various other sub-queries related to the “What are the colors in the rainbow?” query, including:
- How are rainbows formed?
- Why are the colors in the rainbow arranged that way
- Which color in the rainbow has the longest wavelength
- Which color in the rainbow has the shortest wavelength
- Why do some people say there are six colors in the rainbow
- Who named the colors in the rainbow
From the results, you can see that the AI Mode response is clearly more useful and elaborate than the regular Google Search results.
How to Access Google AI Mode
You can access AI Mode directly at the URL google.com/aimode.
Optionally, you can access AI Mode by heading to google.com and clicking AI Mode. (You can also enter your query into the search bar before clicking AI Mode.)
If you have already performed a search, you can click AI Mode on the search results page.
When you enter a search query into Google, Google may also show you an option to test AI Mode.
You can also access AI Mode using the Google app on Android or iOS.
With that said, note that Google AI Mode is still being rolled out in various regions and languages, so some features or formats may not be available to you.
How to Use Google AI Mode
You use AI Mode the same way you use Google Search. You begin by entering your query (or prompt) into Google and clicking AI Mode.
(Note that Google AI Mode is a multimodal system. This means it accepts queries in various formats, including text, voice, and photos.)
AI Mode will return your results along with a few webpages. You can click on the webpages for additional information on the topic.
The AI Mode page will also contain multiple link icons. When you click on them, AI Mode will display additional webpages that are relevant to that specific content.
If you have follow-up questions, scroll down and enter it into the chat box. In response, AI Mode will provide additional responses to your query on the same chat page.
Once you are done, you can leave the chat and return to it by clicking the history icon in the sidebar and selecting the relevant chat.
However, this only works when you enable Web & App activity in your Google Activity settings.
You can also click the share icon to share the link to a friend.
