Google, the tech giant, is rolling out a new “AI Mode” in its search engine, turning basic queries into smart conversations. The feature, launched this week in the US, allows users to interact with Google’s chatbot as if they were talking to an expert.
The move was unveiled at Google’s annual developer conference in Mountain View, California. This update is a direct response to rising competition from ChatGPT and other AI tools that have challenged Google’s long-standing dominance in online search.
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, called the update a “new phase” in the company’s AI journey. According to him, users can now ask longer, more complex questions and get deeper, more meaningful answers.
The goal is to cut down the time users spend clicking through websites. Instead, Google wants people to find what they need quickly through AI-powered summaries and replies.
This shift may help users, but it could hit Google’s ad revenue, which relies heavily on clicks. As one market analyst put it, Google is getting better at answering questions but not necessarily better at generating traffic.
Alongside AI Mode, Google announced a fresh attempt at smart glasses. The company is teaming up with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster to build new eyewear that includes a camera, microphone, and speakers. This project aims to rival Meta’s AI Ray-Bans and revive Google’s earlier smart glasses experiment, which fizzled out over a decade ago.
AI is already a key part of Google’s search engine through its “AI Overviews” feature. This tool offers quick AI-generated summaries at the top of search results. Although it stumbled at launch, suggesting people eat rocks or use glue on pizza, it has grown rapidly.
Google says AI Overviews are now used 1.5 billion times a month in over 200 countries, especially in the US and India.
By Lucky Anyanje
