Google Search: Introducing AI Mode in Aotearoa New Zealand
Imagine being able to ask a question that's very complex or multi-layered and in an instant, receive a comprehensive, AI-powered response that explains it well, complete with web links to explore.
As we dream of warmer months, for example, I asked: What are some campgrounds within a ten minute walk to a beach, offer powered sites and are dog friendly?
Today, you can experience this firsthand as we bring AI Mode - our most powerful AI search experience yet - to New Zealand in English. We first introduced AI Mode as an experiment in the US earlier this year and are now rolling it out to more users globally. It's already resonating with people who appreciate its speed, quality, and fresh responses.
Built for your most complex questions
Using a custom version of Gemini 2.5, AI Mode lets you ask longer, more complex questions that would have previously required multiple searches. In fact, early testers are already asking queries 2-3x the length of traditional searches, showing it’s perfect for your toughest questions. It’s particularly helpful for exploratory tasks like comparing products, planning a trip, or understanding complex how-tos.
For example, if you’re thinking about making a change in your health and wellness regime, you could ask: what's the difference in sleep tracking features between a smart ring, smartwatch and tracking mat?
Behind the scenes, AI Mode uses a query fan-out technique, breaking your question into subtopics and issuing a multitude of queries on your behalf. This enables Search to dive deeper into the web than ever before, helping you find incredible, hyper-relevant content. You can also easily ask follow-ups to dig even deeper.
What makes this experience unique is that it brings together advanced model capabilities with Google’s best-in-class information systems, and it’s built right into Search. You can access not only high-quality web content but also tap into fresh, real-time sources like the Knowledge Graph and shopping data for billions of products.
Multimodality in AI Mode
AI Mode is designed to be multimodal so you can ask questions in whatever way feels most natural: whether that's with text, your voice, or by taking or uploading an image. In AI Mode, simply tap the microphone icon and ask your query. You can also snap a photo or upload an image and ask your question, thanks to AI Mode’s rich multimodal capabilities.
Helping people explore the best of the web
Helping people discover content from across the web remains central to our mission. With AI Mode, you can express exactly what you are looking for, and get the right web content in a range of formats, with prominent links for people to click on. By expanding the types of questions people can ask, Google Search opens up new opportunities for content discovery.
AI Mode is rooted in our core quality and ranking systems, and we are using novel approaches to improve factuality. We aim to show an AI-powered response as much as possible, but in cases where we don’t have high confidence, you will see a set of web search results. As with any early-stage AI product, we won’t always get it right, but we are committed to continuous improvement.
We are very excited to see how this end-to-end AI search experience helps you explore your curiosity and understand the world around you.
