Google is introducing an AI Mode tab in Search for a small percentage of US users in the coming weeks. This new feature will move from Google’s experimental Labs environment to the main Search interface, as reported by Jess Weatherbed.
The AI Mode tab will appear first in the Search tab lineup, positioned to the left of “All,” “Images,” “Videos,” and “Shopping” tabs. Unlike traditional search results that display URLs based on user queries, AI Mode provides AI-generated responses using information from Google’s search index.
This feature differentiates itself from the existing AI Overviews in Google Search, which place AI-generated summaries between the search box and web results. Google positions AI Mode as its answer to language model-based search engines like Perplexity and OpenAI’s ChatGPT search capabilities.
Google has also removed the waitlist requirement for US Labs users to test AI Mode before its wider release. The updated AI Mode includes new capabilities such as saved past searches in a left-side panel for quick reference and follow-up queries. Visual, clickable cards for products and places now appear in search results, displaying information like business hours, reviews, product images, inventory details, and real-time prices.
The AI-powered search tool aims to provide more relevant and up-to-date responses by better accessing web and real-time data compared to regular chatbots like Gemini.