Google is expanding the capabilities of its experimental AI-powered search tool AI Mode, with a slate of updates it claims will supercharge the back-to-school season for students and teachers.
Starting Tuesday, users can upload images into the AI Mode interface, a chat tab in the Search window to interact with Google’s AI search tools, and ask follow-ups. Users will also soon be able to upload PDF documents on desktop, with the ability to search through and summarize document contents, the company said.
Canvas—an interactive workflow and project management tool—will also be added into AI Mode on desktop, the company said. By clicking a new Create Canvas button, users can assemble various pieces of information into a dynamic side panel.
The addition of image and PDF uploads will make Canvas a welcome tool for students, the company said. “It’s like a more advanced version of a full-screen companion, where, if you’re wanting a study guide, we can now have these more immersive experiences,” Robby Stein, vice president of product at Google Search, told ADWEEK.
Google debuted AI Mode in late May. Designed for longer, more complex queries than traditional search, AI Mode can conduct multiple searches at once across the web and interacts with users to enable deeper follow-ups. The tool has rolled out in the U.S. and India, and expanded to the U.K. market Tuesday.
As part of the slate of new updates, Google announced that its Search Live tool, which allows users to ask verbal questions about what they’re seeing in real time using their device’s camera, will add video input directly within AI Mode on mobile starting this week.
Taken together, the developments signal Google’s intent to expand AI Mode across its product suite.
“We’re quickly approaching a period where people expect AI experiences and capabilities across everything they use,” Stein said.
Google’s new search experiences, including AI Mode and AI Overviews—the automated blurbs that appear atop some search results—have “significantly contributed” to year-over-year growth in search query volume, CEO Sundar Pichai said on a call with investors last week as part of the company’s quarterly results. The tech giant has pledged to spend $75 billion on AI this year.
