Google announced a sweeping overhaul of its Search product at its annual I/O developer conference on Tuesday, describing the changes as the most substantial upgrade to the platform in over 25 years. The announcements, detailed in a post by Elizabeth Reid, the company’s VP of Search, cover four areas: a redesigned intelligent Search box, a new category of information agents, agentic coding capabilities that generate custom visual interfaces on demand, and an expansion of Personal Intelligence to a global audience.
AI Mode — the conversational search experience launched at I/O 2025 — has crossed one billion monthly users, according to Google, with queries more than doubling every quarter since launch. Search query volume, the company added, reached an all-time high last quarter.
The intelligent Search box — a 25-year overhaul
The most visible change is the search box itself — now, according to Google, its biggest upgrade in over 25 years. The redesigned interface dynamically expands to accommodate longer, more conversational queries, offers AI-powered suggestions that go well beyond traditional autocomplete, and accepts text, images, files, videos, and Chrome tabs as inputs.
The new box is rolling out today across all countries and languages where AI Mode is available, on both desktop and mobile. Users can now ask follow-up questions directly from an AI Overview and carry that thread into a full back-and-forth conversation within AI Mode, with context intact throughout.
Under the hood, the update runs on Gemini 3.5 Flash, now the default AI model for AI Mode globally. Google describes it as optimized for agentic tasks and coding workflows.
Search agents
Perhaps the most substantive shift is the introduction of information agents — background processes that monitor the web around the clock on a user’s behalf, scanning blogs, news sites, social posts, and real-time data sources covering finance, shopping, and sports, then delivering synthesized updates when something relevant surfaces.
The use cases cited range from apartment hunting — where an agent continuously scans listings against a detailed set of requirements — to tracking sneaker collabs from favorite athletes. Information agents will launch first for Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers this summer.
Booking capabilities are expanding too. Rather than surfacing a list of options, Search will now handle the specifics — pricing, availability, direct booking links — based on detailed user criteria. The example given: finding a private karaoke room for six on a Friday night that serves food late. For select categories including home repair, beauty, and pet care, users will also be able to ask Search to call businesses on their behalf.
For select categories like home repair, beauty or pet care, you can ask Google to call businesses on your behalf. These capabilities will roll out to everyone in the U.S. this summer.
Agentic coding and generative UI
Powered by Google Antigravity and Gemini 3.5 Flash, Search can now generate custom layouts on the fly rather than returning a fixed results page — assembling interactive visuals, tables, graphs, or simulations directly in response to a query. Examples cited include visualizing astrophysics concepts and modeling the mechanics of a watch.
For ongoing tasks, the same capability extends to custom dashboards and trackers — what Google calls “mini apps” — built around a user’s specific needs and updated with live data over time. A fitness tracker pulling in weather, maps, and local information is among the examples offered.
Generative UI capabilities will be available to all users this summer at no charge. Custom mini app building via Google Antigravity follows in the coming months, starting with AI Pro and Ultra subscribers in the U.S.
Personal Intelligence goes global
Personal Intelligence — the feature that lets users connect Gmail, Google Photos, and soon Google Calendar to Search so AI Mode can fold personal context into results — is expanding to nearly 200 countries and territories across 98 languages, with no subscription required.
Users choose which apps to connect and can adjust or revoke access at any time. Google says the feature was built with transparency and control as core design principles.
What this means for users: the shift from index to agent
The broader implication of these updates is a fundamental shift in how Search operates.
For more than two decades, users have adapted to the constraints of keyword-based search, structuring queries to match how a search engine indexes information. These updates increasingly shift that operational burden onto AI systems rather than the user, moving Search from a passive directory toward a more active role.
Proactive functionality:
Instead of returning static links per session, Search now operates continuously. Information agents monitor datasets — real-time listings, brand announcements, market movements — long after the browser tab is closed.
On-demand interfaces:
The integration of Google Antigravity changes how complex information is synthesized. For technical or multi-step queries, Search can now generate and render custom interactive tools, data visualizations, and persistent mini apps rather than aggregating links.
Personalized context:
The global expansion of Personal Intelligence positions Search as a centralized interface for daily tasks. By connecting the open web with personal data from Gmail, Google Photos, and soon Google Calendar — with the user’s explicit opt-in — Search moves from a tool that discovers information toward one that executes workflows.
