Google AI Mode

Name: Google AI Mode
Brand: Google

Google AI Mode is the conversational agentic search mode of Google Search — successor to the Search Generative Experience (SGE, 2023) experiment and AI Overviews (2024). Launched in Search Labs in March 2025, opened to all US users on 20 May 2025 at I/O 2025, and by I/O 2026 expanded to nearly 200 countries and 98 languages. Available for free without subscription — Google aggressively defends its ad funnel by letting its flagship AI through with no paywall.

Scale at I/O 2026: over 1 billion monthly users, AI Mode queries more than doubling every quarter since launch, and total Google Search query volume hit an all-time high. A rebuttal to the "AI cannibalises search" thesis — Google says AI features grow, rather than shrink, the total number of questions users ask. Google AI Mode passed 1B MAU faster than nearly any consumer product in the company's history.

Powered by Gemini 3.5 Flash since I/O 2026 — the flagship Flash model delivering "sustained frontier performance for agents and coding". Choosing the Flash tier (over Pro/Ultra) is an economic decision: at 1B users, every millisecond of latency and fraction-of-a-cent of inference cost multiplies into enormous numbers. The same model is available to developers via Gemini API, Google AI Studio, Android Studio, and Google Antigravity. Previously AI Mode ran on a custom Gemini 2.5.

Architecture based on query fan-out — the engine decomposes a complex question into multiple parallel searches and stitches them into a coherent answer. New 2026 features: Search Agents (background information agents running 24/7), Deep Search (an agent producing full reports from hundreds of queries in minutes), Agentic booking (local-service reservations — US rollout summer 2026), Generative UI (Search builds custom interfaces on the fly — tables, cards, charts). Personal Intelligence — optional linking of Gmail and selected Google apps gives AI Mode personal context (opt-in per source).

The unified AI Overviews + AI Mode experience works on desktop and mobile worldwide — the user flows seamlessly from a question through Overview results into deeper AI Mode chat with "learn more" links. Competition: OpenAI ChatGPT (900M WAU as of Feb 2026), Perplexity (~780M queries May 2025, USD 18B valuation), Microsoft Copilot (bundled with Bing/Edge/Windows). Google's structural edge is distribution — Google Search holds ~90% global market share; AI Mode reaches users who never had to download an app or change a habit.

Released 20 May 2025Updated 16 Jul 2026Global · United States · European Union · United Kingdom · Canada · Japan · Korea · India · Global

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Overview

Input

TextImageAudioDocuments

Output

TextImageStructured data

Access & Pricing

PUBLIC

Availability scope

Global

United StatesEuropean UnionUnited KingdomCanadaJapanKoreaIndiaGlobal

Available in nearly 200 countries and 98 languages, free of charge as of I/O 2026. Rollout of Personal Intelligence, Agentic booking, and Generative UI to all US users in summer 2026 — global rollout of these features expected by end of 2026.

Pricing

Updated 19 May 2026Official pricing

Google AI Mode is completely free for all users globally — no subscription, no consumer limits, available in nearly 200 countries and 98 languages. Google monetises it under the hood through the Google Search ad funnel — the exact model for agentic flows (booking, generative UI, agent shopping) has not yet been disclosed (expected Q4 2026 per analysts). Personal Intelligence, Deep Search, and Search Agents are also free of charge.

CategoryPlanUnitInputCachedOutput

AI Mode (konsumencki)

Free for all Google Search users. No consumer limits, no subscription.

Freeflat$0——

Capabilities

11 capabilities

Reasoning & Planning

Agency & Action

Communication & Multimodality

Task Specialization

Integrations

Connected apps

Gmail

Google's cloud email client. The Claude connector reads messages and drafts, and sends messages on behalf of the user with approval.

Active

Google Drive

Active

Google Docs

Google's online word processor (part of Google Workspace). Enables creating, editing and real-time collaborative work on text documents.

Active

Google Calendar

Active

Product features

Security & Enterprise

Data Residency

Consumer AI Mode queries are not used to train Gemini models (Google's declaration, opt-out via Google Account).

encryption

Google Search infrastructure — TLS in transit, AES-256 at-rest.

compliance

Google Workspace plans: SOC 2, ISO 27001/17/18, HIPAA. Google Cloud Enterprise: FedRAMP High.

Audit Logs

Google Account -> My Activity: full log of all consumer queries with the option to delete.

Notes

Google AI Mode operates within the Google Search infrastructure — it inherits Google's privacy standards (globally unified Privacy Policy). Personal Intelligence (optional Gmail/apps connection) requires explicit per-source consent — not enabled by default. Google states that consumer user queries are not used to train Gemini models (opt-out available via Google Account privacy controls). Enterprise-grade privacy via Google Workspace and Google Cloud enterprise plans (SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, FedRAMP High).