Google launched an experimental model of its search engine on Wednesday that fully eliminates its traditional 10 blue hyperlinks in favour of an AI-generated abstract.
The brand new characteristic, obtainable to subscribers of Google One AI Premium, might be accessed by way of the outcomes web page for any search question by clicking on a tab labelled “AI Mode” to the aspect of present choices like Photographs and Maps.
“We’ve heard from energy customers that they need AI responses for much more of their searches,” Robby Stein, a vice chairman of product, mentioned in a weblog put up.
Google One AI Premium is a US$19.99/month (R430/month in South Africa) plan that gives additional cloud storage and particular entry to some AI options.
Google at the moment shows AI Overviews, summaries which are more and more showing atop the standard hyperlinks to related webpages, for customers in additional than 100 international locations. It started including ads to AI Overviews final Might.
With AI Mode, customers see a extra complete AI abstract with hyperlinks to cited webpages. The ten blue hyperlinks have been changed by a search bar for asking follow-up questions.
Google mentioned AI Mode is being powered by a customized model of its Gemini 2.0 mannequin with reasoning capabilities that make it higher outfitted to deal with complicated queries.
Greatest problem
Guardian Alphabet’s $350-billion in 2024 income was primarily pushed by search-related promoting. However it’s dealing with the largest problem to its core enterprise in years from AI challengers led by Microsoft-backed OpenAI, which added search capabilities to ChatGPT final October.
Google has made integrating AI into search its largest wager, funding chief Ruth Porat mentioned on the Reuters Subsequent convention in December.
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In February, education-technology firm Chegg sued Google, accusing the previews of eroding demand for authentic content material and undermining publishers’ capability to compete. — Kenrick Cai, (c) 2025 Reuters
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