AI Function: AI Features Integrated into Google Search Previously Seen, Now Merged
Google is revolutionising its search experience, integrating AI features that resemble tutoring, making learning and problem-solving more accessible for the average user. This transformation, launched broadly in May 2025, introduces a fully interactive chatbot experience into Search, shifting it from simple results to complex, conversational, and deeply interactive research.
Unlike other AI tools, Google's AI Mode features a prominent dedicated tab in Search, encouraging multi-turn dialogues and follow-up questions, creating a personal research assistant atmosphere. A unique function called Deep Search allows for complex queries that require extensive synthesis and reasoning across hundreds of searches simultaneously, generating detailed, fully cited reports over minutes.
Google's AI Mode is powered by the Gemini 2.5 large language model, which is coupled with live web search. This integration sets Google's AI Mode apart, offering a notably richer and more research-oriented AI search experience compared to Notion AI, Microsoft Copilot, or standalone apps like Gemini.
Moreover, for subscribers to premium AI tiers (Google AI Pro and Ultra), AI Mode offers the Gemini 2.5 Pro variant with superior reasoning, coding, and math abilities tailored for advanced professional and educational use cases. While Microsoft's Copilot also supports multimodal inputs and outputs, such as image generation and meeting transcription, Google emphasises the AI Mode's research depth and web source citation, fostering trust and exploration for users in complex decision-making or academic pursuits.
However, it's important to note that Google's AI Mode is currently only available in the U.S. and India for users in the experimental Search Labs program. For users in countries like Zimbabwe, the search experience remains the regular version, without AI-powered features. This means that for now, Zimbabweans need to use AI tools like the Gemini app to experience what Google Search is gradually transforming into. Features like Canvas, PDF upload, and Search Live are not available in Zimbabwe.
As Google's AI features become more mainstream, they are becoming more accessible, with users now able to upload images and soon PDFs on desktop for AI-powered explanations, access real-time help using a phone camera, and benefit from interactive study plans directly through Google Search. This shift towards a more interactive and context-aware platform is set to make learning and problem-solving easier for billions of people.
Artificial intelligence, integrated into Google's search experience, has evolved into a tutor-like assistant, streamlining learning and problem-solving for average users. In contrast to other AI tools, Google's AI Mode offers a dedicated tab and the Gemini 2.5 large language model, catering to users with complex, multi-turn dialogues and deep research needs, including advanced professional and educational use cases.
