Google has unveiled the UK rollout of a new artificial intelligence-powered tool it believes will revolutionise traditional online search. The US tech giant is launching AI Mode in Google Search across the UK this week, allowing users to ask lengthy and complicated questions as well as follow-ups.
AI Mode will start to appear as a tab on the Google Search results page and in the Google app for Android and Apple smartphones from Tuesday. The function will be available to all UK users over the next few days.
Revolutionary search technology arrives
The tool was launched in the US at the end of May, followed by India earlier in July. It comes in addition to Google's AI Overview, which is now built into its searches.
Hema Budaraju, Google's vice president of product management for search, told the PA news agency it heralds a "major shift" in the way people are using online searches. Questions are now becoming longer and more complex, she said.
Complex queries made simple
In a blog announcing the launch, Budaraju said: "AI Mode is a new, intuitive way to address your most complex, multi-part questions and follow-ups, and satisfy your curiosity in a richer way." She added that the tool is particularly helpful for exploratory questions and complicated tasks like comparing products, planning trips or understanding complex how-tos.
"In fact, we've found that early users of AI Mode are asking questions that are two or three times the length of traditional search queries," she said. The tool is powered by Google's latest AI model, Gemini 2.5, and allows users to ask nuanced questions that would have previously required multiple searches.
Breaking down complex searches
The new search works by breaking down questions into sub-topics and sending out a range of queries on behalf of users. It will also allow so-called multimodal searches, either by text, voice or pictures.
Budaraju said it should make it possible for people to "find information that was previously much harder to find". "This is the beginning of a major shift," she told PA.
Continuous improvement promised
Google said it was improving factuality, but that where AI Mode is not confident in the answer, it will instead provide a set of web search results. "And as with any early-stage AI product, we won't always get it right, but we are committed to continuous improvement," Budaraju said.
(PA) Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
