Google to Offer AI Search Option to All US Users

Alphabet Inc.’s Google will offer “AI mode” in search to all US users, part of an effort to bring products to market faster and keep pace with new rivals in the artificial intelligence age.

“We want to get our best models into your hands,” Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai said at the company’s developer conference in Mountain View, California. “So we are shipping faster than ever.”

Google has been making profound changes to its search engine to ensure that its core product remains relevant as more people turn to chatbots for information. “More intelligence is available, for everyone, everywhere,” Pichai said. “And the world is responding, adopting AI faster than ever before.” He said the company’s Gemini AI app has more than 400 million downloads, and that AI Overviews, the answers at the top of search queries, have more than 1.5 billion users.

Liz Reid, VP and Head of Search at Google, talks with Bloomberg’s Jackie Davalos about the changes and why this isn't the end of blue links. They speak from Google I/O.

AI mode is a tab in search where users can interact directly with AI models, much like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Google has framed the product as a space for users to ask more complicated questions and drill deeper with follow-ups. Over time, Google will bring features from AI mode to AI Overviews, where it answers some questions on the main search page with AI.

“This really is building the future of search,” said Liz Reid, who leads Google Search, in a media briefing before the event. “It creates this time where you can truly ask anything, and that searching starts to feel really effortless.”

After decades of dominance, Google’s search empire is increasingly under threat. AI chatbot products from startups such as OpenAI and Perplexity, which use generative artificial intelligence to answer questions, are becoming a first stop for online queries. Earlier this month, an Apple executive said the number of Google searches in the iPhone maker’s Safari browser is beginning to fall. Meanwhile, a federal judge, after concluding that Google has an illegal monopoly in search, is mulling what penalties to impose.

Yet with roughly 90% of the search market, Google still has one big advantage over its rivals: its audience.

“Google Search is bringing gen AI to more people than any other product in the world,” Pichai told reporters in the briefing.

Google announced a host of updates to its suite of AI offerings, including the planned release this summer of Gemini 2.5 Flash, a faster version of its flagship model. The company also said it is testing a model called Deep Think that excels at coding and reasoning.

The company will bring AI agent capabilities — essentially creating digital assistants — to its Chrome browser, search and the Gemini app. Initially, the company said, Gemini in Chrome will let people clarify or summarize complex information on any website they’re browsing; in the future, Gemini will be able to work across tabs and even navigate websites for users.

Google also offered a glimpse of features that are coming for search. That includes Project Mariner, a web-based assistant that can present options from across the internet to users, such as the most affordable concert tickets. Google is also testing ways to help users ask more complex questions for sports and finance, creating charts that pull from real-time data, Reid said.

Many of those features will be offered first to people who pay to use Google’s products. Google has increasingly debuted AI features via a monthly subscription, and on Tuesday the company said it would introduce a $250 tier in its subscription plan, AI Ultra, for users who want more access to the latest technology. It represents a strategic shift for a company that has long made most of its money by offering tech for free, with a healthy dose of ads.

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