Circle to Search could be getting an AI Mode upgrade, and here's what it looks like (APK teardown)

Android Authority

6 hours ago

Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
TL;DR Google is testing integrating Search's AI Mode into the Circle to Search feature.
When the feature rolls out, users may be able to launch AI mode via text or voice from within the Circle to Search screen.
Google Search's AI Mode breaks down your question into subtopics and conducts multiple simultaneous queries. It can be accessed by users in the US through the AI Mode icon in the Google widget on your home screen, or by selecting AI Mode from the Google app's home page.
Google is all-in on AI and is adding AI to everything. US users can try out AI Mode in Google Search, and there are a couple of ways to launch the feature on your phone. You can use the AI Mode icon in the Google widget on your home screen or select AI Mode from the Google app's home page. In case you need a third way to launch AI Mode, Google could integrate AI Mode into Circle to Search as its default search mode.
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An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
Google app v16.22.44 beta includes code that indicates that Google could soon integrate AI Mode into Circle to Search. We've managed to activate the feature ahead of its launch to give you an early look at it:
Here's a video demo of the upcoming feature:
As you can see in the demo, AI Mode could potentially become the default way to search with Circle to Search. The Google Search bar that appears after triggering Circle to Search could feature a prominent 'Ask AI Mode' hint text and the AI Mode icon. The usual icons for Voice Input, Song Search, and Translate give it company in the Search bar.
You can start an AI Mode search either by text or by voice. Once you start a search, you directly enter Google Search's AI Mode instead of the All tab within Google Search (which currently houses the AI Overviews amongst other things). The UI informs you that Google is doing a deeper search for your query, as AI Mode breaks down your question into subtopics and conducts multiple simultaneous queries. Thankfully, the result acknowledges that AI responses may include mistakes, which is a handy disclaimer given all the various ways AI can hallucinate and get things wrong.
If you don't want to see AI Mode search results, you will likely need to tap on the Web tab in the Google Search response. Further, when using Circle to Search to select text on the screen, the search query will likely default to the Web tab instead of AI Mode (for now). So, for simpler queries where you don't need a whole lot of information and just need to know more about what is visible on your screen, you needn't unnecessarily burden AI for it.
AI Mode within Circle to Search is not currently rolling out. We'll keep you updated when we learn more.
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