Today, Google has updated AI Mode in Search once again. On desktop browsers, you can now ask complex questions about images (which was already available in the Google app), and “in the coming weeks” you’ll be able to upload PDFs to AI Mode and ask detailed questions about them. AI Mode will “analyze the contents of your file and cross-reference it with relevant information from the web to provide a helpful AI response, along with prominent links so you can dig deeper”, Google says. Additional file types will be supported “in the months ahead”.
Next up, Canvas. This feature “helps you build plans and organize information over multiple sessions in a dynamic side panel that updates as you go”. AI Mode will piece things together in the Canvas side panel and you can use follow-ups to refine the output until it meets your requirements. An upload feature is coming soon to let you add context from files. Canvas lands “in the coming weeks” for users in the US enrolled in the AI Mode Labs experiment.
Search Live is rolling out video input, and it’s fully integrated with Google Lens, so you need to open Lens in the Google app, then tap the Live icon, and ask whatever you want while pointing your camera at something. You can have a free-flowing conversation with Search in AI Mode here, aided by the visual context from your live camera feed. This is rolling out this week on mobile in the US for users enrolled in the AI Mode Labs experiment.
In Chrome, with Lens and AI Mode you can ask and learn about what’s on your desktop screen, be it a website, PDF, or anything else you’re looking at in the browser. And soon, when you click on the Chrome address bar, you’ll see a new option to “Ask Google about this page” in the dropdown menu. Once you do ask it something, you’ll get an AI Overview with a snapshot of key information in the side panel, and “this week” you’ll be able to follow up with more questions through AI Mode, by selecting AI Mode in the Lens search results or by clicking “Dive deeper” at the bottom of the AI Overview.
