Google started testing AI-summarized results in Google Search, AI Overviews, two years ago, and continues to expand the feature to new regions and languages. By the company’s estimation, it’s been a big success. AI Overviews is now used by more than 1.5 billion users monthly across over 100 countries.
AI Overviews compiles results from around the web to answer certain questions. When you search for something like “What is generative AI?” AI Overviews will show AI-generated text at the top of the Google Search results page. While the feature has dampened traffic to some publishers, Google sees it and other AI-powered search capabilities as potentially meaningful revenue drivers and ways to boost engagement on Search.
Last October, the company launched ads in AI Overviews. More recently, it started testing AI Mode, which lets users ask complex questions and follow-ups in the flow of Google Search. The latter is Google’s attempt to take on chat-based search interfaces like ChatGPT search and Perplexity.
During its Q1 2025 earnings call on Thursday, Google highlighted the growth of its other AI-based search products as well, including Circle to Search. Circle to Search, which lets you highlight something on your smartphone’s screen and ask questions about it, is now available on more than 250 million devices, Google said — up from around 200 million devices as of late last year. Circle to Search usage rose close to 40% quarter-over-quarter, according to the company.
Google also noted in its call that visual searches on its platforms are growing at a steady clip. According to CEO Sundar Pichai, searches through Google Lens, Google’s multimodal AI-powered search technology, have increased by 5 billion since October. The number of people shopping on Lens was up over 10% in Q1, meanwhile.
The growth comes amid intense regulatory scrutiny of Google’s search practices. The U.S. Department of Justice has been pressuring Google to spin off Chrome after the court found that the tech giant had an illegal online search monopoly. A federal judge has also ruled that Google has an adtech monopoly, opening the door to a potential breakup.