Google Search doesn’t look like Google Search anymore, and at I/O 2026, the company leaned into that fully. The annual developer conference held this week in Mountain View, California, served as the most explicit statement yet of where Google is taking its flagship product: away from the blue-link model it perfected over 25 years and toward something closer to a conversational AI agent.
The announcements ranged from Gemini 3.5 Flash becoming the new default engine behind AI Mode globally to a complete reimagining of the search box itself, described by Google as the biggest upgrade to that interface in over two decades.
Until now, AI has shown up in Google Search in the form of its so-called AI Overviews and in a separate AI Mode that feels more like talking to the Gemini chatbot. A new interface will instead adjust to match the tone and results of your search query — including an “intelligent search box” that lets you ask longer, more complex questions. Here’s what’s coming to Search from Google I/O.
AI updates coming to Search
Robby Stein, Google’s vice president of product for Search, framed this year’s I/O updates as a major step in combining Google Search with advanced AI, tracing progress from AI Overviews to AI Mode and, now, a unified AI search experience. He said a billion people use Google’s AI Mode each month, and they’re asking it more questions. These tools let people ask virtually anything and get rich, real-time answers from Google’s extensive knowledge systems, he said.
“This is a very exciting time for Search,” Stein told reporters ahead of I/O. “People can ask really anything on their mind and people’s curiosity is fairly endless.” The company is doubling down on integrating frontier AI models with Google’s live data (web pages, business listings, products, images, finance) to deliver deeper, conversational search results.
The changes come as Google also announced the rollout of Gemini 3.5 Flash, a more capable model focused on reasoning, coding and complex tasks. Stein said building Search tools around the new model raises the overall answer quality on Search.
Answering more complicated questions
Alongside the model upgrade, Google is introducing an “intelligent search box” that expands for long queries, accepts uploads (photos, PDFs), auto-completes nuanced prompts and can access contextual sources like open Chrome tabs to support multi-step research.
AI Overviews now transition seamlessly into AI Mode for follow-ups. So instead of just getting an AI-generated answer in Search, you can have a conversation with the AI providing your search results to get the answers you’re looking for.
New “widgets” can simulate physics, visualize concepts, build calculators or become persistent mini-apps for tasks such as moving, health tracking or trip planning.
Stein also introduced dynamic, interactive “widgets” and larger “super widgets” generated by the system (enabled by Gemini and developer tooling). These can simulate physics, visualize concepts, build calculators or become persistent mini-apps for tasks such as moving, health tracking or trip planning — optionally using connected personal data (Gmail, Photos, Calendar) to personalize results across 200 markets and 98 languages.
Stein described Search moving into an “agentic” era where AI agents can assist you with a range of tasks, such as monitoring topics, sending alerts (like when your favorite artist announces a tour) or booking services. While the agent cannot book a reservation on your behalf, you can share your details — like the preferred dates and times, and number of people joining your party — to receive a list of matches with updated availability and pricing, and links to officially finalize your reservation booking. These capabilities will be available this summer.
Stephan is the sports journalist for the Maple Grove Report.
