Google has announced improvements to its experimental AI Mode in Search, including a new chat-style response option for UK users, which moves beyond the traditional list of blue links. Google shared one of its main features, Canvas, a side‑panel workspace that enables drafting and refinement of project outlines or study plans across multiple sessions.
Clicking the “Create Canvas” button starts a draft that can be refined step by step using follow-up prompts. Before the end of the year, Canvas is expected to support the upload of materials, such as lecture notes or a course syllabus, and further customize the plan to those documents. United States participants in the AI Mode Labs trial should see this rollout within the coming weeks.
Google expands its AI push
Google has also announced the integration of Project Astra’s technology into AI Mode under a new name called Search Live. Integrated with Google Lens, Search Live enables tapping the Live icon in the Lens view, pointing the camera at an object, and posing questions as if accompanied by a remote expert.
“When going Live with Search, it’s like having an expert on speed dial who can see what’s in view and talk through tricky concepts in real time, all with easy access to helpful links on the web,” said Robby Stein, vice president of product for Google Search. Video‑enabled Search Live will launch on mobile devices for U.S. testers in AI Mode Labs this week.
After that, Google plans to use Lens in AI mode for desktop users to query displayed content. For example, when viewing a geometry diagram in a browser, users can select “Ask Google about this page,” pick the diagram, and receive an AI‑generated summary with a “Dive deeper” follow‑up button in the side panel.
Issues over its ad strategy for AI mode persist
Desktop support for AI Mode’s image and document features is also expanding. While image‑based queries have long been available on mobile, they’ll now work on computers as well. A new PDF uploader will allow dropping in slide decks or reports and posing detailed questions that go beyond the text. Later this year, additional file types, such as documents stored in Google Drive, will be supported.
Meanwhile, Hema Budaraju, Google’s product manager for search, has said that the company is still determining how advertising will work within AI responses and whether sites can pay to appear there, as reported by the BBC. She noted that this new interface encourages richer, more natural queries, where once someone might have typed “clean carpet stain,” they might now write, “I spilled coffee on my Berber carpet and need a pet‑safe cleaner.”
Finally, Google noted that it already generates more than two billion AI Overview boxes each day, across over 40 languages, excluding the EU due to regulations. The company acknowledged that running AI at scale requires extensive data‑center resources, including significant energy and water, and reaffirmed its commitment to advancing sustainable practices.
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