Google be rolling out its AI Mode search experience to everyone in the US starting today. It’s like, a chatbot-style addition to the search engine results page to answer them long queries, ya know? This AI model uses Google’s fancy technology to give full responses based on websites on the web. AI Mode is Google’s way of saying, “Hey, we can do this chatbot thing too!” Apparently, they saw startups like OpenAI and Perplexity doing it, and they were like, “We want in on that action.” Ain’t that somethin’?
If you feel like you heard this before, it’s because last year at Google I/O, they introduced AI Overviews, which was like the warm-up to AI Mode. Back in 2024, Google started using its machine intelligence model to summarize web content and stick it at the top of the results for some queries. People were like, “What the heck is this?” because the answers were all over the place. I mean, remember that time it said to put glue on pizza? Hilarious, right?
But Google ain’t one to give up. They’ve been working on this AI stuff, and now they got a custom version of their Gemini 2.5 model to make AI Mode happen. According to Robby Stein, the VP of product for search at Google, this new model splits up questions to create better results. He said, “It’s like magic, man. You wouldn’t have thought of all these other questions, but our AI can do it. It’s wild.” But, ya know, there’s still some skepticism about how accurate these AI answers are. Like, they can be a bit off sometimes, you know? So, Google had to put a disclaimer at the end of the answers sayin’, “Hey, this thing makes mistakes, so don’t take it too seriously.” WIRED even tested it out and found some funky answers, especially with health-related stuff.
Experts in the search engine world are still not convinced that people will bother checkin’ out the websites mentioned in the AI answers. Barry Schwartz, the CEO of RustyBrick, said, “People are just readin’ what’s there and movin’ on. Click-through rates are way lower with these AI answers compared to regular search results.” So, like, what’s the point of puttin’ all that effort into your website if no one’s gonna click on it, right? But some marketers are seein’ a silver lining. They’re sayin’ that the people who do end up on their sites are more engaged and more likely to stick around. Jim Yu, the CEO of BrightEdge, said, “The traffic might be lower, but it’s better quality. They’re actually stickin’ around and doin’ stuff on the site.” So, I guess it’s not all bad news for everyone.
Lily Ray, an SEO strategy executive, is a bit worried about all this AI stuff takin’ over. She’s like, “How are we gonna make money if people aren’t visitin’ our sites anymore?” She’s got a point, you know? But she did say that AI Mode seems to be a step up from AI Overviews. She thinks it’s better at understandin’ questions and givin’ accurate answers. And from my own experience, I gotta say, bein’ able to ask follow-up questions is pretty neat. But, I did come across some mistakes while testin’ it out. Like, askin’ if the Giants won and gettin’ a nonsensical answer about the San Francisco Giants losing to the Colorado Rockies. And then there was that whole mess with the racist and debunked research about national IQs in Africa. Not cool, AI Mode, not cool.
Google’s spokesperson, Craig Ewer, said that the accuracy rate for AI Overviews is on par with other search features like featured snippets. He said they’re workin’ on improvin’ the accuracy and factuality of the answers. So, I guess we’ll see how that goes. But one thing’s for sure, Google ain’t playin’ around with this AI stuff. It’s the future of search, whether we like it or not. So, as Schwartz said, “Embrace change, I guess.”
