Google AI Mode is launching in the U.S., kicking off a new era of AI search

During the Google I/O 2025 keynote, the company announced it's launching the AI Mode search tool for U.S. users. It's the start of an entirely new era in search.

May 21, 2025 - 03:40

Google AI Mode is launching in the U.S., kicking off a new era of AI search

illustration of browser pop-up windows and the word 'internet'

Google just cracked open the future of search, and it talks back.

During today's Google I/O 2025 keynote event, Google announced that it is now rolling out the AI Mode search tool to everyone in the United States. Powered by Gemini, AI Mode will now include new "Deep Search" features and some agentic capabilities.

AI Mode represents the biggest shift in Google Search since its inception. It’s no longer just a place to find links. It’s an AI system that interprets your query, breaks it into sub-questions, issues dozens or hundreds of background searches, and returns a single, synthesized answer. Sometimes with citations. Sometimes with follow-up actions.

If this sounds like the future of search, it is. However, it also represents a fundamental change in how we interact with information online. It's also bad news for publishers and bloggers who rely on Google for traffic.

screenshot of google ai mode on pixelphone

AI Mode is here. Credit: Google

Google officially kicks off the AI Search Era

Google’s AI Overviews — introduced last year — offered summarized answers (right, wrong, or imagined) to countless user searches. According to Google, these overviews drove a "10% increase in usage of Google for the types of queries that show AI Overviews." Now, AI Mode (previously available in beta via Google Labs) builds on that foundation with deeper research capabilities, delivering context-aware responses and handling follow-up questions more naturally.

Users will soon see a new “AI Mode” tab in Google Search, both in the browser and mobile apps. No sign-up is required. More advanced features for AI Mode are set to arrive in Google Labs later this summer.

These features include Deep Search, a feature that promises fully cited, expert-level summaries in minutes. It’s a tempting promise: let the machine read the internet for you. Google also announced features like Search Live, which lets you point your camera at an object and ask questions in real time, and new agent-like capabilities that can buy tickets, book restaurants, and fill out forms on your behalf.

Credit: Google

Google says AI Mode will also bring in "personal context," drawing from your past searches, Gmail (if you opt in), and even location history, to tailor personal search results. Other agentic AI capabilities include a new AI shopping experience with virtual try-ons and the ability to check out purchases for you when the price is right.

AI skeptics may not be looking forward to even more AI features in Google, but the bottom line is this: The era of Google Search, as we know it, is officially over. The era of AI search is here. Google has hit the reset button; whether that's a leap forward or a tipping point depends on how much you trust AI to understand your questions and answer them for you.

Google rival OpenAI rolled out its own ChatGPT search tool earlier this year.

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.