Google previews AI Mode for search, taking on the likes of ChatGPT search and Perplexity

Google’s AI Overview is now powered by Gemini 2.0
Google’s new experimental AI Mode offers reasoning and follow-up responses in search
Unlike traditional search, AI Mode actively synthesizes information from multiple sources

Google is doubling down on bring AI to Search with an expansion to its AI Overviews and new experimental AI Mode. In Google’s ideal world, you would basically never leave the search engine and it would handle a lot of that pesky thinking on your behalf. On the other hand, there would be fewer open tabs giving you anxiety.

Overviewing AI

AI Overviews have already become a familiar sight for many users, appearing at the top of search results with neatly summarized answers to big questions. Now, with Gemini 2.0 behind the wheel, Google claims these overviews will be faster, more detailed, and capable of handling trickier queries in areas like coding, advanced math, and multimodal reasoning. In other words, if you were relying on Reddit and Stack Overflow to explain why your Python script keeps throwing an error, Google wants you to ask it instead.

Google claims there are a lot of fans who want to see AI even more embedded in their online searches. That’s what led to the creation of AI Mode. Currently in an experimental mode in Labs. AI Mode aims to bring better reasoning and more immediate analysis to your online time. AI Mode won’t just spit out a quick answer to your query. It will actively break down complex topics, compare multiple options, and pull from online sources to provide more nuanced responses. AI Mode should help prevent you from going from a simple search for a new toothpaste to spending 30 minutes on Wikipedia learning about the history of medieval dentistry.

Let’s say you’re trying to figure out the best way to track your eating habits. A regular Google search might give you a mix of ads, product reviews, and a few scientific studies buried somewhere on page two. AI Mode, on the other hand, can analyze the pros and cons of different apps, smart wearables, and AI-enhanced scales in a single response, summarizing the key features and limitations; even pulling in fresh user reviews. If you need more details, you can ask a follow-up question like, “How does eating late at night impact heart rate?” and get an instant, well-researched answer without having to piece it together from five different websites.

AI internet

This shift isn’t happening in a vacuum. AI-powered search has been heating up, with OpenAI’s ChatGPT Search and Perplexity AI both offering their own takes on AI-assisted browsing. ChatGPT Search integrates OpenAI’s conversational abilities with web access, but it can still struggle with sourcing real-time information. Perplexity AI, meanwhile, prides itself on transparency, always citing sources alongside its answers. Google, being Google, wants to combine deep AI reasoning with its long history of crawling and ranking the web.

Of course, any time AI takes a bigger role in search, there are questions. Will AI Mode and AI Overviews make it harder for small content creators to get traffic if Google keeps more users within its own ecosystem? What biases will even more complex synthesized answers introduce? Google insists that human oversight and ranking systems are still in play, but the company also acknowledges that AI is a work in progress. There’s a fine line between an AI-powered search assistant and an all-knowing gatekeeper that decides what’s “true” before you even click a link.

Beyond the potential pitfalls, AI Mode represents a shift in online research from passive to dynamic. It moves the burden of crafting the right query, clicking through results, and assembling information from different sources from you to the AI. Faster answers, smarter suggestions, and less time wasted on irrelevant links is a tempting proposition. But how good can it actually be compared to you putting little thought into it? AI Mode may as well be called Lazy Mode. Will you still bother clicking through to the long-form articles, deep-dive blog posts, or thoughtful articles on tech news websites for context and nuance beyond an AI summary at this level?