Google announced an expansion of its AI-powered search features, enhancing AI Overviews with Gemini 2.0 and introducing a new experimental “AI Mode.”
AI Overviews With Gemini 2.0
Google has upgraded its AI Overviews with Gemini 2.0 in the United States.
Users should see performance improvements for coding, advanced mathematics, and multimodal searches.
Google says it’s increasing the frequency of AI Overview appearances for these query types while making them faster and higher quality.
Additionally, Google is removing the sign-in requirement for AI Overviews, which could significantly increase their frequency.
Google’s announcement reads:
“Today, we’re sharing that we’ve launched Gemini 2.0 for AI Overviews in the U.S. to help with harder questions, starting with coding, advanced math and multimodal queries, with more on the way. With Gemini 2.0’s advanced capabilities, we provide faster and higher quality responses and show AI Overviews more often for these types of queries.
Plus, we’re rolling out to more people: teens can now use AI Overviews, and you’ll no longer need to sign in to get access.”
Launching Experimental “AI Mode”
Google is introducing “AI Mode,” an experimental feature initially available to Google One AI Premium subscribers through Google’s Labs program.
You can now pay to have more AI in your search results, which is worth emphasizing, given the vocal segment of users who want to turn off AI features.
This opt-in experience is designed for what Google calls “power users” who want AI-powered responses for a broader range of search queries.
AI Mode leverages a custom version of Gemini 2.0 with advanced reasoning capabilities to handle complex, multi-part questions that might otherwise require multiple searches.
The new feature allows you to:
- Ask follow-up questions to continue conversations
- Receive information drawn from multiple data sources simultaneously
- Interact using voice, text, or images through multimodal capabilities
Here’s an example of how it looks on mobile and desktop:
Screenshot from: Google, March 2025.
Screenshot from: Google, March 2025.How AI Mode Works
Google says AI mode is an upgrade over AI overviews:
“This new Search mode expands what AI Overviews can do with more advanced reasoning, thinking and multimodal capabilities so you can get help with even your toughest questions. You can ask anything on your mind and get a helpful AI-powered response with the ability to go further with follow-up questions and helpful web links.”
Google explained that AI Mode employs a “query fan-out” technique.
This works by issuing multiple related searches concurrently across subtopics and data sources. It then synthesizes the information into a comprehensive response.
The technology draws on Google’s Knowledge Graph, real-world information, and product data. Similar to AI overviews, it links to sources.
You can access AI Mode through multiple entry points: the AI Mode tab below the search bar on Google.com, directly at google.com/aimode, or via the AI Mode icon in the Google app.
The dedicated tab will look similar to the example below:
Screenshot from: Google, March 2025.Quality Safeguards & Limitations
Google acknowledges that, as with any early-stage AI product, AI Mode “won’t always get it right.”
The company detailed several built-in safeguards, including:
- Integration with core Search ranking and safety systems
- Novel approaches using the model’s reasoning capabilities to improve factuality
- Defaulting to standard web search results when confidence in AI-generated responses is low
- Protection against hallucinations, opinionated responses, and misleading content
The company noted that AI Mode is mainly designed to handle queries requiring exploration, reasoning, or comparisons. However, it may default to traditional search results for current events or when up-to-the-minute accuracy is critical.
Looking Ahead
These updates affirm Google’s continued investment in AI-powered search experiences, which could further impact how people discover and interact with web content.
The company’s measured rollout of AI mode suggests it’s being cautious with this feature. Google may be looking to avoid public relations headaches like the one it had with the launch of the AI overviews.
It remains to be seen when this will roll out to regular users. Locking the AI mode behind a paywall may indicate that it’s expensive for Google to deploy.
Google is already working on enhancements, it says. Updates to AI mode may include more visual responses, richer formatting, and new ways to connect users with web content.
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-upgrades-ai-overviews-with-gemini-2-0-launches-ai-mode/541318/