Google’s rollout of generative AI features for its search engine hasn’t always been smooth, but that is not stopping the company from continuing to integrate artificial intelligence everywhere it can. This week, Google announced a substantial upgrade for AI Overviews as well as a new AI Mode for Search that Google Labs users can try out today.
AI Overviews run on Gemini 2.0
Google’s AI Overviews just got smarter. Starting today, AI Overviews in the US use Gemini 2.0, which means they should be more capable of answering tough questions related to coding and advanced math, as well as multimodal queries.
As a result, AI Overviews will appear more often. Google also seemingly believes AI Overviews are safer now, as teens can access them without logging in.
AI Mode experiment launches in Search Labs
Even with the Gemini 2.0 upgrade, the capabilities of AI Overviews are still limited compared to AI chatbots like Gemini or ChatGPT. That’s where AI Mode comes into play.
AI Mode is a new experiment in Search Labs that builds a chatbot into Google Search. AI Mode combines Google’s most advanced AI model with the company’s information systems to provide detailed answers to complex, multi-part questions.
Google says that the experiment uses a “query fan-out” technique to gather information. Using its custom version of Gemini 2.0, the experimental AI feature makes “multiple related searches concurrently across subtopics and multiple data sources and then brings those results together to provide an easy-to-understand response.”
For instance, if you ask, “What’s the difference in sleep tracking features between a smart ring, smartwatch, and tracking mat?,” the AI model will make a plan, conduct multiple searches, and adjust its plan based on the information it finds. If you want to know more, you can ask a follow-up question without starting from scratch.
Of course, this is just an experiment, so there’s plenty of work still to be done. If AI Mode can’t come up with a worthwhile answer, it will instead offer a list of web search results. In the future, Google plans to add visual responses, richer formatting, and more.
Google One AI Premium subscribers can try Google’s AI Mode experiment right now. Everyone else can join the waitlist and wait for their chance to try it.
