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Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Tuesday announced the company’s free AI Mode, which integrates an AI chatbot tool into search
Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Google is bringing “AI mode” to all users in the U.S. starting today, a move CEO Sundar Pichai called a “total reimagining of search.”
AI mode integrates an AI chatbot tool into search. Google showcased the offering, now free for all users, at its I/O conference Tuesday.
The tool allows users to converse within Google Search the way they would with AI chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. AI mode will appear as a tab alongside news, images, and others, the company said.
The addition builds on Google’s existing AI Overview offering, which the company announced at last year’s I/O event. AI Overview usage has climbed to 1.5 billion monthly users, Pichai said.
Google also announced a subscription service called Google AI Ultra, which the company called a “VIP pass for Google AI.”
AI Ultra, currently available to U.S. users for $249.99 per month, includes access to the new Gemini 2.5 Pro Deep Think mode for research and the AI filmmaking tool Flow, among other features. The company also expanded its $19.99 Google AI Pro plan to include “a full suite of AI products with higher rate limits and special features compared to the free version.”
Google’s Gemini has seen a larger increase in usage between September and March than its primary competitors, Meta AI, and ChatGPT, according to research from Morgan Stanley. In March, about 40% of Morgan Stanley survey respondents said they used Gemini on a monthly basis, compared with ChatGPT’s 41% and Meta AI’s 39%.
Shares of Alphabet slid about 1.5% in Tuesday trading. The stock is down about 13% in 2025 so far.
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