At the recent I/O Developers Conference, Google announced a series of new artificial intelligence (AI) features aimed at consolidating its leading position in the search engine market. With rapid advancements in AI technology and increasing competitive pressure from emerging companies like OpenAI and Perplexity, Google seems to be under considerable pressure. Therefore, the company introduced the "AI Mode," the most powerful AI search feature in its search engine, which boasts advanced reasoning and multi-modal capabilities.
AI Mode can delve deeper into information through users' follow-up questions and provide web links to help users obtain more accurate search results. This new feature will be displayed as a separate tab in search results in the coming weeks, and users can easily access it via the search bar in the Google app. Google stated that since testing the AI Mode earlier this year, the results have been impressive.
Last year, Google's "AI Overview" feature was considered one of the most successful new features in search products over the past decade. Google said that AI Overview attracted more users, especially when dealing with complex and diverse questions. User satisfaction improved significantly, and search frequency increased. In major markets such as the United States and India, the number of searches using AI Overview increased by more than 10%.
However, as attention to AI-driven search tools grows in the market, Google faces increasing challenges. For example, recently, Apple executives stated that the company is actively considering adding an AI-driven search engine to Safari browsers, a message that caused Alphabet, Google's parent company, stock prices to fall sharply by more than 7%. Analysts pointed out that this market reaction showed investors' concerns about the potential impact of conversational AI applications on Google's traditional search business.
Despite the pressure, Google still has a leading advantage in AI technology. The company stated in its latest financial report that the monetization speed of AI Overview is comparable to traditional advertising businesses, which brought some comfort to investors. Additionally, Google introduced a customized version of the Gemini2.5 model, which will support AI Mode and AI Overview for U.S. users.
In AI Mode, Google showcased a series of new features, including deep search and real-time search functions. Deep search can initiate hundreds of search requests within minutes, integrate different information, and generate professional citation reports. Real-time search allows users to interact with the search engine in real time through their device cameras, providing a more intuitive search experience.
As Google continues to innovate, whether its dominant position in the search engine field can be sustained remains to be observed.