Google brings multimodal search to AI Mode with enhanced visual search

Google is busy upgrading its Search with new AI features to retain its audience. The tech giant has announced some improvements to AI Mode, as well as expanding access to more users.

Google's AI Mode, a feature designed to enhance search capabilities now supports visual search with the Gemini AI model. It is tailored for longer and more complex user queries, which are twice as long as regular queries. AI Mode can be used for complicated tasks like product comparisons, planning trips, analyzing how-tos, etc.

AI Mode's multimodal approach allows users to upload an image or take a photo, and ask a question about the picture. The AI provides a response that is rich, comprehensive, by using enhanced visual search capabilities in Lens with a custom version of Gemini. It is capable of understanding an image, the context of how objects are related, the scene, colors, shapes, arrangements, unique materials, etc.

Google says AI Mode uses a "query fan-out" technique, to issue multiple queries about the image's contents, to deliver detailed and extensive information that is contextually relevant. The user can then decide how to proceed with the options. This trend indicates a shift in user engagement, highlighting a demand for deeper and more nuanced search interactions. Google's announcement demonstrates how the AI Mode feature works.

AI Mode was originally available only to Google One AI Premium subscribers, but is now available for all users in the U.S. who opt-in to Labs. You can test AI Mode through the Google app for Android and iOS.

As Beta News notes, AI Mode could be crucial for Google to fend off the competition from ChatGPT, Copilot, Grok, and other services that seek a foothold in the search engine market.