Google’s AI Mode
Provided by Google
Google The company is adding visual results to its AI-powered search experience, which it announced Tuesday.
The search giant deployed AI mode in the US in May, launching it as a text-based tool that allows users to answer questions primarily using natural language. Currently, if users are looking for inspiration or shopping help, AI mode can also generate results in the form of images.
Google has been competing to find a way to integrate generated AI into search engines since Openai locked the tech sector with the launch of Chatbot ChatGPT in late 2022. AI rivals have changed the way users seek information online.
According to Robby Stein, vice president of product management at Google Search, the company’s updated visual results are part of a query that is not particularly suited to text-based answers, which will provide users with an entirely new set of use cases in AI mode.
“There are times when what you’re really looking for can’t really be made clear in the text,” Stein told reporters during the briefing. “When you ask about shoe shopping, you explain shoes when people really want visual inspiration. They want the ability to see what the model is looking at.”
For example, if the user is looking for decorative inspiration in AI mode, you can enter a prompt such as “Show me the biggest inspo in my bedroom” and get a series of images accordingly. Users can refine their results further with follow-up, such as asking users to see more options with “bold prints and dark tones,” says Stein.
AI mode can also generate visual results for shopping.
For example, users can search for “barrel jeans that are not too buggy” and see a variety of shopping options. Each image in AI mode has a link so users can click on the retailer’s site and purchase if they choose, Google said.
The company said the visual results of the AI mode combine the AI model Gemini 2.5, with features of Google Search, Lens and Image Search.
“I think this is really a breakthrough in what’s possible,” Stein said.
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