From a reinvented search box to AI agents that search for apartments on your behalf, Google Search is being rebuilt with AI at its heart.
Macy is a writer on the AI team. She explains how AI is changing everyday life and how to get the most out of it. This includes writing about consumer AI products and their real-world impact, from the revolutionary tools that are reshaping everyday life to the intimate ways people interact with AI technology every day. Macy is a North Carolina native and graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a bachelor’s degree in English and a second bachelor’s degree in journalism. You can reach her at mmeyer@cnet.com.
Skill Macy covers consumer AI products and their real-world impact Credentials
- Macy has worked for CNET for 2 years. Prior to CNET, Macy received a North Carolina College Media Association award in sports writing.
Google Search no longer looks like Google search, and I/O In 2026, the company has fully leaned into it. The annual developers conference held this week in Mountain View, Calif., was the most explicit statement yet of the direction Google is taking its flagship product: moving away from the blue link model it has perfected for 25 years and toward something closer to a conversational model. AI agent.
Announcements ranged from Gemini 3.5 Flash becoming the new default engine behind AI Mode globally to a complete reinvention of the search box itself, described by Google as the biggest upgrade to that interface in over two decades.
So far, AI has appeared in Google Search in the form of so-called AI Previews and in a separate AI mode that feels more like a conversation with the Gemini chatbot. A new interface will adapt to the tone and results of your search query, including a “smart search box” that will allow you to ask longer, more complex questions. Here’s what’s happening in Google I/O search.
AI Updates Coming to Search
Robby Stein, Google’s vice president of products for search, touted this year’s I/O updates as a major step in combining Google Search with advanced AI, tracking progress from AI Previews to AI Mode and, now, a unified AI search experience. He said a billion people use Google’s AI mode every month and they are asking more questions. These tools allow people to ask virtually anything and get rich, real-time answers using Google’s extensive knowledge systems, he said.
“It’s a very exciting time for Search,” Stein told reporters before I/O. “People can really ask anything they think and their curiosity is almost endless.” The company is doubling its efforts to integrate cutting-edge AI models with Google live data (web pages, business listings, products, images, financials) to deliver deeper, conversational search results.
The changes come as Google also announced the rollout of Gemini 3.5 Flash, a higher-performance model focused on reasoning, coding and complex tasks. Stein said building search tools around the new model increases the overall quality of responses on search.
Answer more complicated questions
Along with the model upgrade, Google is introducing a “smart search box” that expands for long queries, accepts uploads (photos, PDFs), auto-completes nuanced prompts, and can access contextual sources such as open Chrome tabs to support multi-step search.
AI previews now seamlessly switch to AI mode for follow-ups. So instead of just getting an AI-generated answer in search, you can have a conversation with the AI that provides your search results to get the answers you’re looking for.
New “widgets” can simulate physics, visualize concepts, create calculators, or become persistent mini apps for tasks like moving, tracking health, or planning trips.
GoogleStein also introduced dynamic, interactive “widgets” and larger system-generated “super widgets” (enabled by Gemini and developer tools). These can simulate physics, visualize concepts, create calculators, or become persistent mini apps for tasks like moving, health tracking, or trip planning – optionally using connected personal data (Gmail, Photos, Calendar) to personalize results across 200 markets and 98 languages.
Stein described Search entering an “agentic” era where AI agents can help you with a range of tasks, such as monitoring topics, sending alerts (like when your favorite artist announces a tour), or booking services. Although the agent can’t book a reservation on your behalf, you can share your information – like preferred dates and times and the number of people joining your party – to receive a list of matches with updated availability and prices, as well as links to officially finalize your reservation. These capabilities will be available this summer.
Macy is a writer on the AI team. She explains how AI is changing everyday life and how to get the most out of it. This includes writing about consumer AI products and their real-world impact, from the revolutionary tools that are reshaping everyday life to the intimate ways people interact with AI technology every day. Macy is a North Carolina native and graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a bachelor’s degree in English and a second bachelor’s degree in journalism. You can reach her at mmeyer@cnet.com. See full bio
