What Is AI Mode in Google? Where to Find It and How to Use It

It's free, and it's widely available. As of September 2026, Google's AI Mode help page lists 248 countries and territories and 98 languages. A few extras, such as booking, buying and the Deep Search research tool, are limited to certain countries, ages or paid plans.

This is the practical user's guide: where the button is on each device, who can use which features, what you can ask it to do, and how to get back to plain results. For what happens under the hood, read what Google AI Mode is and how it works. If you run a website, our guide to Google AI Mode and web traffic covers what it means for your clicks.

Where to Find AI Mode in Google

Google's help page names three ways in: the google.com/ai address, the AI Mode button after you type a question on google.com, and the AI Mode button on the Google app's home screen. Chrome, the Windows app and AI Overviews add three more. We've put them all into one table, the AI Mode Access Matrix, with Chrome split into its two entry points.

On google.com and google.com/ai

On the Google homepage, type your question in the search bar, then tap AI Mode. Your question goes to AI Mode in Google instead of the regular results page. The direct address, google.com/ai, skips that step and opens AI Mode straight away. On phones, Google's help says you can tap All at the top of the screen to go back and forth between the two.

In Chrome and on Windows

Chrome's help page on using AI Mode in Chrome shows an AI Mode button at the right of the address bar and on the New Tab page. The keyboard shortcut is Tab, then Enter. From there you can add recent tabs, upload an image or file, choose a model, or ask about the page you're reading. Google notes the Chrome button "is not available to everyone or on every device" yet, and is still reaching people outside the US and in other languages.

On a Windows 10 or later PC, the Google app for desktop opens with Alt + Space and includes AI Mode. Google says it isn't supported yet for every account, country and language.

Who Can Use AI Mode in Google: Countries, Languages and Accounts

Google's help page lists 248 countries and territories. That includes the US, Canada and Latin America, the UK and EU members, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia and most of Africa and the Middle East. Mainland China, Iran, Cuba and North Korea aren't on the list. The page also lists 98 languages, from Afrikaans to Zulu, including Hindi, Arabic, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese and Spanish.

The core experience needs no subscription. At I/O in May 2026, Google made its newest default model available in AI Mode "for everyone globally". Some features are narrower, and the table shows who gets each one as of September 2026.

A note on work and school accounts: if your Workspace admin has switched off the Search and Assistant service, Search history isn't available. You can still use AI Mode, but you can't save threads to pick up later.

How to Use AI Mode in Google

Your first search takes about a minute. Here's the routine:

1. Open AI Mode using any door from the matrix above.
2. Ask the whole question at once. Add the details you'd normally spread across several searches: "Plan three days in Lisbon in March for two adults who love food markets, under €600." Google says the average AI Mode search in the US is three times longer than a regular one.
3. Read the answer and open the links. Since May 2026, sources sit next to the sentences they support, and many answers end with suggestions for further reading.
4. Ask a follow-up in the "Ask anything" bar at the bottom. You don't need to repeat yourself: "Swap the second day for a trip to Sintra" works.
5. Come back later through AI Mode history, on the left side of the page on a computer.

Ask with your voice, a photo, a file or a link

The "Ask anything" bar takes more than text. Tap the microphone to speak. Tap the menu, or Lens on a phone, to add one or more photos, or drag and paste them in on a computer. You can also upload PDFs, local files and Google Drive files, or paste a web address and ask a question about that page. Google's one-year AI Mode report says more than one in six AI Mode searches in the US are now non-text, such as voice or images.

Talk it through with Search Live

Search Live is AI Mode by voice. In the Google app on Android or iOS, tap Live below the search bar and start talking. Tap Video to show Search what your camera sees, Wave to interrupt it mid-answer, and Exit to end. You can also jump from a typed AI Mode thread into Live at any point. Our post on AI-powered voice search compares Search Live with the other voice assistants.

Let it check prices, call or book

For errands, AI Mode in Google can do some legwork. Ask for something like "deep cleaning for an apartment move-out this Saturday," then choose Check for me. Google says AI Mode may call businesses on your behalf when details aren't online, and it shares only what you confirmed. Type "don't call" if you'd rather it stuck to the web. In the US, some product listings also show a Buy button that checks out with Google Pay at eligible retailers.

Keep a project in a notebook

If you research one topic over weeks, a notebook keeps its sources and instructions in one place. Open AI Mode history on a computer and select Add notebook. Notebooks sync with the Gemini app, though chats in each stay separate.

How to Leave, Avoid or Clear AI Mode

Google's help pages don't document a switch that turns AI Mode off. You rarely need one, because it opens when you choose it or type a follow-up under an AI Overview. These are the controls Google does document:

Two details are worth knowing. First, deleted AI Mode threads can linger in My Activity for up to 24 hours before they're removed automatically. Second, if you move from an AI Overview into AI Mode with a follow-up, your history may show two entries: the first search and the AI Mode thread. Delete both to remove it fully.

AI Overviews are a separate feature. Google's AI Overviews help page says they "cannot be turned off," but the Web filter shows text links without them.

If You Run a Website

AI Mode in Google links to web pages inside its answers, so your site can earn visits from it. Google's rules for inclusion are short: the page must be indexed and eligible to show a snippet, with no extra technical requirements. Site owners who want out can use the Search generative AI control in Search Console, which applies to AI Mode and AI Overviews together.

Two reporting quirks matter. Search Console counts each AI Mode follow-up as a new query, and visits from AI Mode arrive in Google Analytics as ordinary Organic Search. Our guide to Google AI Mode and traditional search covers the click studies, a model for estimating your exposure, and how to be cited. For the shorter summaries, see how to show up in Google AI Overviews.

Because AI Mode handles long, detailed questions, pages that clearly answer a buyer's follow-ups give it more to link to. Rankbox's Answer-Space Research maps the questions buyers ask Google, ChatGPT and Perplexity, and its writer turns them into source-backed articles your developer connects through Rankbox's API. It doesn't track AI Mode citations. The Business plan is $49.50 a month with a 7-day trial (pricing). To brainstorm the questions yourself, try the free AI question generator.