Google launches AI mode in India, powering smarter and more complex searches
🤖 What Is AI Mode?
AI Mode is Google’s advanced, AI-powered search experience that builds upon the earlier AI Overviews feature. It allows:
- Complex & multi-part queries: Ask layered questions or request detailed comparisons—AI Mode breaks them into sub-queries and synthesizes a comprehensive answer reddit.com+15livemint.com+15republicworld.com+15reddit.com+4techcrunch.com+4afaqs.com+4.
- Follow-up interactions: You can refine your query or ask follow-ups, similar to having a conversation .
- Multimodal inputs: Upload images or use your camera (through Google Lens integration) to ask questions about visuals—AI Mode analyses and explains what’s in the image .
- Deep Search & agentic tasks: It retrieves information from hundreds of pages, assembles comparative reports, and can even help with tasks like booking tickets, finding product deals, or planning using contextual info indiatoday.in+3livemint.com+3republicworld.com+3.
- Custom charts & personalized context: Generate data visualizations (charts/graphs) on demand and get recommendations based on your Gmail, searches, and bookings indiatoday.in+3livemint.com+3republicworld.com+3.
🇮🇳 India Launch: Why It Matters
- Scaled access: After successful testing in the US and initial broader rollout, AI Mode is now live in India through Google Search Labs business-standard.com+15republicworld.com+15indiatoday.in+15.
- User demand: AI Overviews have seen over a 10% usage increase in both the US and India when available—highlighting strong adoption of AI search features indiatoday.in+10livemint.com+10blog.google+10.
- Powered by Gemini: The feature uses advanced models like Gemini 2.0/2.5, enabling deeper reasoning and understanding reddit.com+12reddit.com+12reddit.com+12.
🧪 How to Try It
- Opt in via Google Search Labs: Visit the Labs section in the Google app or desktop and enable AI Mode (Lab availability may vary).
- Requires subscription: Initially available to Google One AI Premium subscribers (in markets where it’s rolled out)—India availability may follow subscription model reddit.com+14techcrunch.com+14republicworld.com+14.
- Look for the ‘AI Mode’ tab: If enabled, a new AI Mode tab appears in Google Search for seamless interaction republicworld.com+2livemint.com+2indiatoday.in+2.
🗣️ What Users Are Saying
From platforms like Reddit:
“I really like it actually. It’s like a quick little deep research into a question.” reddit.com+2reddit.com+2reddit.com+2
“Google’s new AI Mode is designed to provide more complex, nuanced answers… synthesizing info from across the web.” indiatoday.in+3reddit.com+3reddit.com+3
Some note occasional inaccuracies or hallucinations:
“Even with the latest AI models… they hallucinate algorithms and are generally a menace.” reddit.com+1reddit.com+1
✅ Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Reduces multi-step searches | May occasionally hallucinate or err |
| Ideal for research, planning, shopping | Might need subscription |
| Supports rich interaction (images, charts) | Ads may arrive in AI Mode soon afaqs.com+8business-standard.com+8indiatoday.in+8reddit.comen.wikipedia.org+15reddit.com+15reddit.com+15 |
🔍 Bottom Line
Google India’s AI Mode is now toying with a groundbreaking search interaction model—delivering detailed answers, executing tasks, and handling follow-up queries intelligently. For students, professionals, avid researchers, or curious minds, this makes Google a more conversational and efficient assistant.
Want to know how to enable AI Mode, compare it to ChatGPT or Bing, or see how it stacks up against other AI search assistants? Just say the word!