Recently, Google has launched a new experimental feature named “AI mode” in search, which looks to take on popular services like Perplexity AI and OpenAI’s ChatGPT Search. The tech giant announced that the new mode is designed to allow users to ask multiple types of questions. In addition, they can follow up the search to dig deeper into a topic directly with the Google search feature.
Google maintains search dominance, but people are increasingly turning to ChatGPT and AI tools for quick answers. This shift from traditional searching to conversational queries shows a significant behavioral change to which Google’s response has been strategic. AI Mode launched first to premium US subscribers for testing, then expanded nationwide. The company has since added shopping features, voice and image search, advertising, and AI Overviews, all aimed at making search more conversational.
This evolution shows how established tech giants adapt to disruption: integrating new capabilities into existing infrastructure rather than starting from scratch. The key question is whether Google’s incremental approach can compete with platforms built specifically for AI-first interactions.
The company announced that users in India can access AI Mode in the search lab, as it is still under observation. Once a user has opted in, they can ask queries in English. Google didn’t specify whether it plans to support local languages or when that might be available.
AI mode sounds good for users who don’t want to visit several sites. But apart from this, publishers are in worry, as this feature causes a drop in traffic on their websites. Instead of clicking URLs, users prefer to ask queries using Google AI mode. It fetches the data from sites and then summarizes this info to provide a clean and concise answer, but it does not show the original links, which causes a significant drop in traffic. All of the concerns of publishers are valid; Google should consider them. Along with its development in AI, Google must be careful not to lose the trust of users or the web creators who helped make Google what it is today.
