Google's new AI Search box is here - along with agents and 5 more upgrades

Search box is here - along with agents and 5 more upgrades">

["The days of simple Google Search are behind us. The company has announced a slew of updates at I/O 2026, transforming Search into a more conversational, personal, and capable assistant. Liz Reid, vice president and head of Search, emphasized that the goal of Search has always been to help users ask questions, but now it's designed to not just answer, but also research, shop, book, monitor, and create on behalf of users.", "The new AI Mode tab in Google Search on desktop and mobile is powered globally by a new model called Gemini 3.5 Flash.

This model provides 'frontier performance for agents and coding, excelling at complex long-horizon tasks.' Google claims that AI Mode has passed one billion monthly users and is rolling out 3.5 Flash as the default model behind it. Additionally, the company is making it easier to 'continue the conversation' in Search, allowing users to ask follow-up questions from an AI Overview and engage in a 'conversational back and forth with AI Mode.'", "The Search box is getting a major overhaul, decoupling it from keywords and allowing users to enter conversational, multimodal questions. The new box can understand specific, multipart queries, and users can ask questions using text, images, files, videos, or Chrome tabs.

Google introduced 'the biggest upgrade to our Search box in over 25 years... now completely reimagined with AI.' The company also showcased its 'information agents,' which can monitor topics in the background and notify users when relevant information is found. For example, users can create an agent to scan for apartment listings that meet specific requirements.", 'Other notable upgrades include agentic booking capabilities for local services and appointments, a new AI-powered shopping cart feature called Universal Cart, and the ability to ask Search to code small tools or apps.

The Universal Cart feature allows users to track products across Google services, remember payment and shipping details, and find opportunities for hidden savings or points. The agentic coding capabilities, powered by Gemini 3.5 Flash, enable users to build custom tools and apps with generative UI, layout, and real-time components.', 'Google is also bringing its opt-in personalization features to Search through what it calls Personal Intelligence in AI Mode. If users choose to connect apps such as Gmail, Google Calendar, or Google Photos, Search will use their information from those apps to provide more personalized answers.

While these upgrades offer exciting possibilities, they also raise concerns about data privacy and the level of trust users must place in Google to manage their information and tasks.']