Google wants you to use its iconic search engine the way you use Gemini. The company announced on Tuesday that it's expanding its AI Overviews, which will now be powered by Gemini 3 and come with an AI chat window to answer follow-up questions. 

There's no obvious way to turn off AI Overviews in Google Search (you can try this workaround to create a custom search shortcut in your browser). You won't be required to use the prompting window to ask follow-up questions, but you'll be redirected to Google's AI Mode if you do. AI Mode is an AI-driven, agentic search experience, where you can let AI take the wheel and do the bulk of the work in your search queries. 

Google has been testing this ability for a while, with Robby Stein, Google's vice president of product for Google Search, teasing an early iteration in December. The new feature is rolling out globally on mobile now. 

Read more: Ready to Escape Google? Start by Changing Your Phone's Default Search Engine

How we search Google is changing, again

For a long time, Google has told us that the best way to get the search results we want is to be strategic about keywords. It's why you see so many search suggestions that aren't grammatically correct but include the necessary signals to get Google to pull up the right pages. 

Now, Google is saying we don't need to be so picky. We can use longer, more conversational searches to get the results we want.

Over the past few years, we've been trained to interact with AI differently than we do with search engines. We type and talk with chatbots using natural language, since that's what they can understand and mimic in their results. The new changes in Google's AI Overviews are trending toward us being able to interact with Search the same way we do with Gemini.

It's all part of Google's broader strategy to integrate its AI into all its products, from Search to Pixel smartphones. The tech giant recently introduced personalized intelligence, which lets you connect your Google apps to tailor your AI results to your life and interests. For example, you can link your Google Photos, and personalized intelligence can see that you enjoy ice cream trips on vacations and include some options in your AI-planned itinerary. The goal, Stein said in a blog, is "one fluid experience with prominent links to continue exploring." 

More AI in Google Search is likely bad news for publishers, who have already felt the adverse effects of AI Overviews. The additional search bar for follow-up questions (that redirects to AI Mode) is yet another way Google is shoving blue links even further down the page, if people bother to check them at all.

For more, check out our review of Nano Banana Pro and tips for using NotebookLM.

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