Google launches AI Mode in the UK amid ‘major shift' in online search
Hailed as its most 'powerful AI search to date', the US tech giant is launching AI Mode in Google Search across the UK this week, allowing users to ask lengthy and complicated questions, as well as follow-ups.
AI Mode will start to appear as a tab on the Google Search results page and in the Google app for Android and Apple smartphones from Tuesday, and will be available to all UK users over the next few days.
The function was launched in the US at the end of May, followed by India earlier in July, and comes in addition to Google's AI Overview, which is now built into its searches.
Hema Budaraju, Google's vice president of product management for search, told the PA news agency it heralds a 'major shift' in the way people are using online searches, with questions now becoming longer and more complex.
In a blog announcing the launch, Ms Budaraju said: 'AI Mode is a new, intuitive way to address your most complex, multi-part questions and follow-ups, and satisfy your curiosity in a richer way.'
She added: 'AI Mode is particularly helpful for exploratory questions and for more complicated tasks like comparing products, planning a trip or understanding complex how-tos.
'In fact, we've found that early users of AI Mode are asking questions that are two or three times the length of traditional search queries.'
The tool is powered by Google's latest AI model, Gemini 2.5, and allows users to ask nuanced questions that would have previously required multiple searches.
The new search works by breaking down questions into sub-topics and sending out a range of queries on the behalf of users.
It will also allow so-called multimodal searches, either by text, voice or pictures.
Ms Budaraju said it should make it possible for people to 'find information that was previously much harder to find'.
'This is the beginning of a major shift,' she told PA.
Google said it was improving factuality, but that where AI Mode is not confident in the answer, it will instead provide a set of web search results.
'And as with any early-stage AI product, we won't always get it right, but we are committed to continuous improvement,' Ms Budaraju said.
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