Google starts embedding AI chatbot into search

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starts embedding AI chatbot into search

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/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png">Reuters

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logo is seen at a company research facility in Mountain View, California, U.S., May 13, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

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is introducing a new artificial intelligence mode that more firmly embeds chatbot capabilities into its search engine, aiming to give users the experience of having a conversation with an expert.

The “AI Mode” was made available in the US on Tuesday, appearing as an option in

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’s search bar.

The change, unveiled at the company’s annual developers conference in Mountain View, California, is part of the tech giant’s push to remain competitive against ChatGPT and other AI services, which threaten to erode

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’s dominance of online search.

The company also announced plans for its own augmented reality glasses and said it planned to offer a subscription AI tool.

Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of

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-parent Alphabet, said the incorporation of the company’s Gemini chatbot into its search signalled a “new phase of the AI platform shift”.

“With more advanced reasoning, you can ask AI both longer and more complex queries,” Pichai told the audience.

Leo Gebbie, principal analyst and director for the Americas at CCS Insight, said

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had been expected to wrap AI more tightly into its products.

He said he thought the chatbot would help minimise the number of web pages that users must sift through, while also allowing people to ask more complicated queries.

“For the end user, this should mean less time spent browsing the web itself, and more time spent talking with

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’s AI tools,” he said.

Any updates that

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makes to search are “of critical importance,” added Gebbie, since the search business contributes the vast majority of

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’s revenues.

The company is also fighting a court battle in the US over potential changes to its business after a judge ruled it had a monopoly in search.

Rocky road

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has had mixed success in its recent attempts to incorporate more AI into its services.

Its AI Overviews feature, unveiled by

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at its developers conference last year, offers AI-generated summaries that currently appear at the top of search results.

It initially generated ridicule from users who posted some of the odd responses they received, as when it advised one user that non-toxic glue could help make cheese stick to pizza.

Another widely circulated response stated that geologists recommend humans eat one rock each day.

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spokesperson said at the time that these were “isolated examples.”

Mr Pichai said on Tuesday that AI Overviews now gets 1.5 billion uses per month in more than 200 countries and territories.

In its biggest markets – the US and India – AI Overviews drive more than 10% of growth in the types of queries that show them, Pichai said.

“It’s one of the most successful launches in search in the past decade,” he added.

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also announced a new foray into AI-powered glasses.

The company pioneered smart glasses more than a decade ago with its “

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Glasses”, which ultimately flopped.

With the renewed effort,

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hopes to compete against Meta’s AI-powered glasses made with Ray-Ban.

The new

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glasses, which are being developed with eyeglass retailers Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, will feature a camera, microphone, and speakers.

The company said it expected to start building the new product later this year.

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#starts #embedding #chatbot #search

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