2026-05-19 17:45 UTCOriginal source2 min readUpdated: 2026-06-27 00:25 UTC

How AI Mode is changing the way people search in the U.S.

One year after launch, AI Mode has surpassed a billion monthly active users globally, with users shifting from keywords to natural language queries, using voice and images, and asking longer questions.

SourceGoogle AI Blog

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EngineersBeginner

Key points

AI Mode launched a year ago in the U.S., now has over 1 billion MAU globally, with queries doubling each quarter.
More than 1 in 6 U.S. searches use voice or images; image searches grew over 40% month-over-month.
Average AI Mode query is triple the length of traditional search; planning queries grew 80% faster overall.
Brainstorming queries grew 30% faster than overall; searches starting with 'where to,' 'where should I,' and 'ideas for' are increasing.

Why it matters

This matters because AI Mode launched a year ago in the U.S., now has over 1 billion MAU globally, with queries doubling each quarter.

Technical impact

May affect model selection, inference cost, product capability, and evaluation benchmarks.

This panel is AI-generated and reviewed for accuracy.

How AI Mode is changing the way people search in the U.S.

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One year ago, we launched AI Mode in the United States. Now, it has surpassed a billion monthly active users globally and AI Mode queries have more than doubled every quarter since launch.

Search’s new AI features are the leading reason why we’re seeing queries at an all-time high. And because AI Mode bridges the gap between a traditional search engine and conversational AI, we’ve found that people aren’t just searching more, they’re searching differently — asking the questions that are really on their mind.

We dove deeper into how people are using AI Mode in the U.S. and the data is clear: AI Mode isn’t just changing how people search — it’s expanding the very definition of what’s searchable.

Here are some of the key insights about AI Mode in the U.S. one year since launch:

Searching beyond text: More than one in six searches in the U.S. now use voice or images, with image searches growing over 40% month-over-month.

Asking longer questions: While we’re seeing growth in both short and long queries in AI Mode, the average AI Mode search is triple the length of a traditional Search query.

Getting things done: Trends data shows that AI Mode queries related to planning have grown faster than AI Mode queries overall by 80% in the past 6 months.

Making decisions: According to Trends data, brainstorming queries in AI Mode have grown 30% faster than queries overall since launch, and searches starting with “where to,” “where should I,” and “ideas for” are growing.

Read more here about how people are searching in new ways with AI Mode.

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