- AI Mode in Google Search is now available to free users in the US.
- You need to turn on AI Mode via Google Labs to access the new feature on the Search page.
- In addition, Google has added visual search to AI mode via Lens, which leverages Gemini 2.0's multimodal capability.
Google launched a dedicated ‘AI Mode’ in Google Search last month, but it was only available to Google One AI Premium subscribers. Now, the search giant is expanding AI Mode in Google Search to free users in the US. To access the feature, head to Google Labs via labs.google.com/search/aimode and turn on AI Mode.
In case you are unaware, AI Mode in Google Search is an entirely new tab where you can ask open-ended questions and get detailed answers from a custom version of the Gemini 2.0 model using web search. AI Mode is suitable for queries where users seek explanations and want to ask follow-up questions.
Referenced links and citations are also displayed along with the AI-generated answer. Basically, with AI Mode, Google is integrating a Perplexity-like tool into its Search product.
Apart from that, Google has added visual search capabilities to AI Mode. It’s powered by Google Lens using a custom version of Gemini. You can upload an image or capture a video and ask your question through voice. Google says that AI Mode leverages the multimodal capability of Gemini 2.0 to precisely identify the context and answer visual queries.
Note that AI Mode in Google Search is different from AI Overview which is displayed on top of web links in the “All” tab. It’s now using the Gemini 2.0 model in the US, but it doesn’t allow follow-up questions. Initially, AI Overview was under fire for generating false information, including potentially dangerous information like adding glue to pizza and drinking urine to pass kidney stones.
Now, with the improved Gemini 2.0 model under the hood, Google is hoping to enhance AI Mode and AI Overview for more users.
