Google searches will be much more conversational on Android devices thanks to artificial intelligence, judging by unpublished code discovered by 9to5 Google. The search app may soon add an AI mode that combines interactive discussions and other features that make Google's foundational service act more than a little like the Gemini AI assistant.
AI mode, called AIM in the discovered code, combines the human-like interactions of Gemini Live with Google Search and adds the visual insight and analysis you get from Google Lens. When you're in AIM, you'll be able to respond to whatever Google Search comes up with. Instead of just a list of results, you'll be able to ask follow-up questions, interrupt answers, and treat Search like Gemini Live.
AI Mode should be available as a tab in the bottom navigation bar of the Google app when it rolls out. In addition to using your voice to search, you can also use photos taken with your phone or uploaded ones. You can then explain what you want to search for regarding the image. A fun additional part of the code is that its placeholder is a winking emoticon.
Gemini or Search?
The idea of AI Mode in Google Search makes sense at first glance, but it raises some questions in context. It appears to be so similar to Gemini that it is more of a variation of Gemini Live. That would fit with how Google seems interested in getting people to use Gemini for everything. AI Mode is not identical to Gemini Live, as AI Mode would offer a multimodal experience combining text, voice, and images, but it's close enough that it's hard to know when you'd use one or the other.
AI mode could simply be a path to a more comprehensive service. Augmenting Google Search with Lens' ability to ask questions about photos and videos and powering today's voice interaction, which transcribes spoken requests, could pave the way for Google Search to become a facet of Gemini or vice versa. It could also change the way we think about the world's most popular search engine.
Instead of turning to Google to say “show me the results,” we could simply ask it to “give me a direct and thoughtful answer.”