Google has overhauled its search box for the first time since 2001, announcing the changes at its annual I/O developer conference in Mountain View, California. The redesigned interface accepts longer, conversational questions alongside images, videos, PDFs, and content dragged in from Chrome tabs. Previously, users had to navigate to a separate section of the site to access many of these features.
The company is also merging two existing features — AI Overviews, which display automatically generated summaries above traditional results, and AI Mode, a more conversational search experience — into a single, unified flow. Users can now ask follow-up questions without leaving the main search page.
The new experience runs on Gemini 3.5 Flash, Google’s latest AI model. Google claims the model is faster and less expensive to operate than comparable alternatives.
Liz Reid, Google’s head of Search, said the goal was to remove the burden of choice from users: “For most users, they don’t actually want to have to think about whether they want a more traditional page or an AI-forward search experience.”
Google reported that AI Mode has surpassed one billion monthly users since launching in the United States one year ago, and that overall search volume reached an all-time high last quarter.
The changes raise questions for publishers and advertisers. Analysts note that as search becomes more self-contained, fewer users may click through to external websites. Financial analyst Richard Kramer of Arete Research stated plainly: “The open web is on its way out.”
Sources: New York Times, VentureBeat
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