Google AI Mode Has Arrived: Only Available To Premium Subscribers!

Google AI Mode is officially here after the industry has been buzzing with rumors of its arrival for months now. Moreover, only a few weeks ago we also saw leaked screenshots confirming the launch. 

According to Google, its AI mode will offer users relatively more advanced thinking, reasoning, and multimodal abilities. This will help users get answers to the most difficult questions and queries. 

So, What Is AI Mode?

Google AI Mode is an experiment by Google search labs that users have to select and subsequently get approved by the search engine giant. Currently, it has rolled out only to subscribers of Google One AI Premium. 

So, it will definitely take some time before it becomes visible to everyone. Once you get access to the AI Mode, you will spot an AI Mode tab right below the search bar. 

What The Google AI Mode Look Like?

Here’s what the Google AI Mode looks like on mobile devices:

Here’s what the Google AI Mode looks like on desktops:

How To Access AI Mode?

There are three ways in which you can access Google’s AI Mode. However, you have to get a green signal from the Google Search Labs on this project. 

1. Visit Google.com and enter any query in your Search bar, before tapping the ‘AI Mode’ option right under the Search bar. 
2. Directly navigate to AI Mode from Google Search. Just type, ‘google.com/aimode,’ and press enter.
3. Open Google’s app on your device and tap on the AI Mode button under the Search Bar. 

I really think this is a great move – this is precisely how AI should function in Google Search. Moreover, this is so much better than clicking on the web-only tab when you don’t want Google AI Overviews. In addition, it is great to have a dedicated tab for the AI mode. 

How Does Google AI Mode Work?

Barry Schwartz, founder of Search Engine Roundtable mentioned yesterday in a short blog, how Google has confirmed to him that its AI Mode goes through information in real-time both from Google and the web, including data from Google Knowledge Graph, shopping information from millions of products, i.e, the Google Shopping Graph, and real-world information.

So, Google’s AI Mode depends on a ‘query fan-out’ approach, “issuing multiple related searches concurrently across subtopics and multiple data sources and then brings those results together to provide an easy-to-understand response,” as per Google. 

Moreover, this mode also supports a multimodal search approach – this means the meaning is conveyed through images, voices, or texts. 

Also, Google posted a comprehensive PDF document explaining how the Google AI Mode works. 

Links In Google AI Mode:

For displaying links to websites and publishes, the AI Mode will prominently show relevant links, helping users find content and web pages that might not have been fully discovered in the past. 

Moreover, those links and responses will most likely be different from the ones that surface under AI Overviews. This is because the AI Mode and AIOs use different operational models. 

Also, Google said that it is training its model to determine with intelligence how and when to link as well as present information best. 

As per Schwartz, Google told him, “For example, teaching the model to decide when to include hyperlinks in the response if it’s likely that the user may want to take action or finish a task on a website (e.g. booking tickets).”

AI Mode And Search Console:

Yes, you cannot expect the search engine giant to display any major information on this from the Search Console. 

In this context, Google told Schwartz, “We currently don’t have anything to share about the reporting tools for this experiment, but will let you know if that changes.”

Also, Google updated the documentation of Search Console to display, “Note: Search Console doesn’t include data from the ‘AI Overviews and more’ or ‘AI Mode’ experiments in Search Labs.”

Take Charge Of Google AI Mode With Robots:

Also, Google went on to update its directives and made the following additions:

1. In the no-snippet section, Google added:

“Do not show a text snippet or video preview in the search results for this page. A static image thumbnail (if available) may still be visible, when it results in a better user experience. This applies to all forms of search results (at Google: web search, Google Images, Discover, AI Overviews, AI Mode) and will also prevent the content from being used as a direct input for AI Overviews and AI Mode.”

2. In the max-snippet section, Google added:

“Use a maximum of [number] characters as a textual snippet for this search result. (Note that a URL may appear as multiple search results within a search results page.) This does not affect image or video previews. This applies to all forms of search results (such as Google web search, Google Images, Discover, Assistant, AI Overviews, AI Mode) and will also limit how much of the content may be used as a direct input for AI Overviews and AI Mode. However, this limit does not apply in cases where a publisher has separately granted permission for use of content. For instance, if the publisher supplies content in the form of in-page structured data or has a license agreement with Google, this setting does not interrupt those more specific permitted uses. This rule is ignored if no parseable [number] is specified.”

When Will AI Mode Fully Roll Out?

So, when will the Google AI mode completely roll out?

To be honest, I’ve no idea. I mean, if you think about it, Google isn’t alone in this – after all, this AI mode does function similarly to Perplexity, Microsoft Bing’s Copilot Search, and ChatGPT Search. 

Also, there are several comments from the search engine giant on how this is just an experiment at the time and will naturally not be perfect. At the time, glitches are normal – it will get better. 

However, Google did do plenty of testing – and considering the erratic nature of the search engine giant, the roll out can happen at any time.