What is Google AI mode, how it will change search, and what are its implications? Explained
During the 2025 Google I/O conference, the tech giant unveiled AI Mode for Google Search. It is a sweeping transformation set to redefine how users navigate the internet. The new feature is now live and available for all users from 20th May 2025. It centres around Google’s own AI model, Gemini.
Beyond summaries – What is Google AI Mode?
AI Mode is not to be confused with AI Overview, the summarising feature that was introduced by Google back in May 2025. While AI Overview is clumsy and provides condensed answers using the older PaLM 2 model, AI Mode marks a significant leap forward. Notably, the answers provided by AI Overview are often questionable and their accuracy cannot be trusted.
AI Mode is powered by the more advanced Gemini 2.5 model. It includes the revamped AI Overview, Deep Search, Search Live and Google’s latest venture into agentic AI via Project Mariner. All these tools collectively offer an integrated, context-aware, conversational interface to the web, and potentially a farewell to the tab-hopping days of traditional search.
Reservations, tickets, and tasks — all in one search
While demonstrating AI Mode’s agentic capabilities, Google showcased scenarios where the AI could secure event tickets and book a dinner reservation within a single query. The feature, although not shown at its full potential, was enough to stun the audience with its ability to execute long-chain instructions with impressive accuracy.
The system draws data from across the web and, if the user allows, it takes information from the user’s own Google suite history, including Docs or Gmail, to provide highly tailored results. This feature will help in streamlining searches into a flowing conversational format that has the capability to recall previous interactions, evolving the process into a more human-like dialogue.
Furthermore, users can interact with the system using voice, text, or even by uploading images and videos, thanks to its multimodal functionality.
Deep Search and data visualisation – Google’s next frontier
One of the more technically ambitious features announced by Google was Deep Search, which is capable of interpreting layered, multi-instruction queries in a single go. Along with this, Google also introduced dynamic data visualisation tools, which will allow users to analyse complex datasets in real time, right from the search interface.
Google Search no longer remains a simple information retriever. With the new feature, it has become a powerful research assistant which is capable of not only fetching but also understanding and presenting information in a user-friendly format.
The silent killer of web revenue?
Google claims that AI Mode is the future of internet interactions. However, its implications for online publishers are grim. AI Overview has affected the revenue model of a lot of publishers as it pushes for a reduced number of clicks. Now, with AI Mode, content creators will face a more potent threat.
AI Mode effectively eliminates the need to visit individual websites. It packages the information sourced from dozens of potential pages into a neat chat window. Fewer clicks mean less ad revenue and lower affiliate traffic, which is the lifeblood of digital journalism and blogging.
Let’s take an example which Google presented. Google showed a mock scenario of a parent searching for summer camp options. Rather than visiting multiple camp websites, the user simply interacted with AI Mode, which compiled and refined the results within Google’s interface. Every skipped site is a lost opportunity for publishers.
Another example that can be discussed here is of content creators who publish lists of “top 10s” or similar formats. They basically review ten products and rate them based on their features. The same will be done by Google’s AI Mode without pushing the user to visit the website. The information is indeed provided by the reviewers but visitors will be lost because Google provided the information neatly in the chat interface.
The longer users remain in Google’s ecosystem, the more ads Google can serve. It raises questions about sustainability. If Gemini is trained on data mined from the very websites its interface now bypasses, what happens when those websites can no longer survive?
Imagine, a reader visits two websites to read about a breaking news. He will get pieces of information by reading the reports. However, if the query is given to Google’s AI Mode, it will fetch information from 10–15 news portals and present them in chronological order. The need to visit the two websites is eliminated right in the search chat.
How to try Google AI Mode
AI Mode began its rollout on 20th May 2025. It is available for free to all users and can be enabled by simply opening a new Google tab and selecting the AI Mode toggle. However, in some regions, it is yet to be rolled out.
Whether it’s the beginning of a smarter search era or a reckoning for the open web, one thing is certain, Google has just rewritten the rules of digital engagement.
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