A 25-Year Search Box Gets an AI Brain Transplant
Google is recasting its familiar search box as an AI-powered command center, calling it the biggest upgrade since its earliest days. Powered by the Gemini 3.5 Flash model, the new experience moves beyond typing a few keywords and scrolling blue links. The box now dynamically expands to encourage richer prompts, reflecting the way people increasingly describe problems instead of just entering search terms. Google says people are “searching more than ever before,” and its chatbot-like AI Mode has already hit 1 billion monthly users. The revamped interface rides on that momentum, blurring the line between search and conversational assistants. Instead of treating AI as a separate product, Google is baking it directly into the core search flow, positioning this overhaul as its answer to AI-native competitors and escalating expectations around instant, synthesized answers.
Google Multimodal Search: One Query for Text, Images, Video, and Files
The standout change is Google multimodal search: you can now mix text, images, video, files, and even Chrome tabs in a single query. Rather than crafting a perfectly worded search, you might snap a photo, paste a document excerpt, and add a short description—all in the same box. Google’s AI then parses every signal together to produce suggestions that go beyond traditional autocomplete. This is meant to mirror how people naturally think: you rarely rely on words alone when you can point, show, or reference something on screen. Multimodal search also sets the stage for more complex tasks, like troubleshooting a product using a video clip plus written error logs. The result is an AI search engine upgrade that turns the search box into a canvas for context, not just a slot for keywords.
Searching Inside Your Browser: Chrome Tabs Join the Results
Another subtle but important shift is the integration of Chrome tabs directly into search queries. Instead of hunting through dozens of open pages, you can drop one or more tabs into the new search box as part of your question. Google’s AI can then read those pages in context—alongside any text, files, images, or video you include—to give more targeted suggestions and summaries. Practically, this turns search into a cross-window navigator: researching a trip, comparing products, or assembling notes from multiple sites becomes less about manual tab juggling and more about delegating that organization to the AI. It also reinforces Google’s strategy of binding search, browser, and assistant into a single workflow, so that moving between web pages and queries feels like one continuous, AI-mediated activity rather than separate steps.
Information Agents: Always-On Search for Paying Power Users
On top of the visual overhaul, Google is introducing “information agents” for paid Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers, rolling out first this summer. These agents continuously search on your behalf, scanning blogs, news sites, social feeds, and real-time data such as finance or sports results. You give the agent a detailed brief—Google’s example is an apartment hunter who “brain dumps” all their requirements—and it monitors the web 24/7, sending an “intelligent, synthesized update” whenever something relevant appears. Instead of refreshing search results yourself, you effectively outsource the vigilance. While initially a premium feature, information agents signal where search is heading: from on-demand queries to persistent, automated monitoring tailored to your interests, introducing both powerful convenience and new questions about trust, control, and how much of your information diet is curated by algorithms.
How Everyday Search Behavior Will Change
For most people, the biggest shift will be psychological: search becomes less about “What should I type?” and more about “What can I show or explain?” Multimodal input lowers the barrier to complex questions, and AI summaries reduce the need to click through multiple pages for simple answers. At the same time, Google’s expansion of Personal Intelligence—using signals from apps like Gmail and Photos—means more context-aware responses wherever AI Mode appears, from the Gemini app to the Chrome side panel. In practice, we’re moving from isolated, keyword-based lookups toward ongoing, assistant-like interactions that blend personal data, open web content, and live monitoring. This is Google’s response to AI-first rivals: make search more conversational, more proactive, and more deeply embedded in daily workflows, while keeping the familiar search box as the gateway to it all.