Google rolls out experimental AI Mode in Search for Indian users

Google launches AI Mode in Search via Labs for select users in India with advanced reasoning and multimodal capabilities for handling complex and nuanced queries

Google on Tuesday announced the rollout of AI Mode in Search for certain users in India. For now, the feature will be offered as an experiment in Labs in English, the company said.

 

“AI Mode is our most powerful AI search, with more advanced reasoning and multimodality, and the ability to go deeper through follow-up questions and helpful links to the web,” Google’s vice-president of product management – Search, Hema Budaraju, said in a blog post.

 

The AI Mode in Search, though visually similar to the AI Overviews feature of Google Search, is distinct as it allows users to ask longer, more complex, or nuanced questions that would previously have required multiple searches.

 

“It’s particularly helpful for exploratory questions and for more complicated tasks like comparing products, planning a trip, or understanding complex how-tos,” the company said. 

 

The AI Mode works by breaking down a complex query into smaller subtopics and issuing a multitude of queries simultaneously on behalf of the user. All the answers received are then combined into one hyper-relevant content output that matches the user’s query.

 

“You can not only access high-quality web content, but also tap into fresh, real-time sources like the Knowledge Graph, info about the real world, and shopping data for billions of products,” Google said on Tuesday.

 

In May last year, Google launched its AI Overviews feature, which gave users a quick snapshot of the information they were looking for using the Search engine.

 

The search engine giant had then said the Overviews feature ensured users were viewing a greater diversity of websites for help with more complex questions, and that the links included in AI Overviews received more clicks than if the page had appeared as a traditional web listing for that query.

 

“As we expand this experience, we will continue to focus on sending valuable traffic to publishers and creators,” Google added.