Google has taken a major step in transforming how users interact with its search engine by rolling out AI Mode nationwide to all users in the United States, the company announced at its annual Google I/O 2025 developer conference on May 20.
Initially launched as an experimental feature in March 2025 that required users to opt in through Google Labs, AI Mode is now becoming a standard option directly accessible in Search. Users who want immediate access can still opt in via Google Labs to gain early access to upcoming features.
AI Mode represents a significant evolution in search technology, utilizing what Google calls a "query fan-out" technique that breaks down complex questions into subtopics and issues multiple searches simultaneously. This approach enables the system to dive deeper into web content than traditional search, providing more comprehensive responses to complex, multi-part questions.
"What we're seeing in testing is people are asking questions that are about twice the query length of traditional search, and they're also following up and asking follow-up questions about a quarter of the time," explained Robby Stein, VP of Product at Google Search.
The nationwide rollout comes with several advanced capabilities. Deep Search, a new feature coming to AI Mode in Labs, takes the query fan-out technique to the next level by issuing hundreds of searches and creating expert-level, fully-cited reports in minutes. Additionally, Google is integrating Project Astra's live capabilities into AI Mode, allowing users to have real-time conversations about what they see through their camera with a feature called Search Live.
Google is also bringing agentic capabilities from Project Mariner to AI Mode, starting with event tickets, restaurant reservations, and local appointments. The company is partnering with Ticketmaster, StubHub, Resy, and Vagaro to create seamless experiences for these services.
Powered by a custom version of Gemini 2.5, Google's most advanced AI model, AI Mode represents the company's strategic response to the growing competition in AI-powered search from rivals like Perplexity AI and OpenAI's ChatGPT. As Google continues to gather user feedback, many of these experimental features are expected to eventually become part of the core Search experience.