Google searches will be much more chatty on Android devices thanks to artificial intelligence, judging by unreleased code discovers by 9to5 Google. The Search app may soon add an AI mode that combines interactive discussions and other features that make Google’s foundational service more than a little like the Gemini AI Assistant.
The AI mode, called AIM in the uncovered code, combines the human-like interactions of Gemini Live with Google Search and adds the visual understanding and analysis you get from Google Lens. In AIM you can respond to what Google Search has to offer. Instead of just a list of results, you can ask follow-up questions, pause responses, and otherwise treat Search as if it were Gemini Live.
AI Mode should be available as a tab in the bottom navigation bar of the Google app if and when it rolls out. In addition to using your voice to search, you can also use photos taken with your phone or other uploaded photos. You can then indicate what you want to search for in the image. An additional funny bit of the code is that the placeholder is a winking emoticon.
Gemini or search?
The idea of AI mode in Google Search makes sense at first glance, but raises a number of questions in context. It looks so much like Gemini that it’s more of a variant of Gemini Live. That would fit with the way Google wants people to use Gemini for everything. AI mode isn’t identical to Gemini Live, as AI mode is said to offer a multimodal experience that combines text, voice, and images, but it’s close enough to make it difficult to know when you should choose one over the other. to use.
AI mode may be the path to a more comprehensive service. Expanding Google Search with Lens’ ability to ask questions about photos and videos and boosting its current Voice Interaction, which transcribes spoken requests, could pave the way for Google Search to become a facet of Gemini or vice versa . It could also change the way we think about the world’s most popular search engine.
Instead of turning to Google to say “show me the results,” we can simply ask Google to “give me a direct, thoughtful answer.”