Google is giving its AI-powered search tool, AI Mode, a major upgrade, and expanding access to it at the same time.
The big new feature is that it can now “see” and understand images.
The update combines Google’s Gemini AI with its Lens image recognition tech.
Users can now take or upload a photo in the Google app (on both Android and iOS) and get a detailed response, complete with useful links about what’s in the picture.
Rather than just identifying objects, AI Mode can understand the full scene, including how items relate to each other, their colours, materials, and layout.
For example, snap a photo of a bookshelf, and the tool can name the books, suggest similar titles, and even offer recommendations based on reviews.
Here’s what you should know:
You can now ask Google’s AI Mode questions about images using Gemini and Lens.
It looks at the full picture, offering detailed, link-filled responses.
The rollout has widened beyond paid users to more US Labs users.
Behind the scenes, it uses what Google calls a “fan-out technique”, breaking the image into multiple parts and running several searches at once.
This helps it deliver more precise and context-aware results.
AI Mode is Google’s answer to other AI-first search platforms like Perplexity and ChatGPT Search.
It first launched for Google One AI Premium subscribers through Labs, but Google is now rolling it out to millions more users in the US via its Labs programme.
Low-key impressed that it can recommend books just from a pic.