Google’s AI Mode Gets Visual: A Closer Look at the Multimodal Upgrade

Google is expanding access to AI Mode, its Gemini-powered assistant integrated into Google Search, with a major new feature: multimodal support via Google Lens.

What’s New?

AI Mode now lets users upload or take a photo, ask a question about it, and receive a detailed, contextual response. It combines:

• Visual object detection (via Lens)

• Contextual scene understanding (via Gemini)

• Multiple backend queries to deliver more relevant results

This means AI Mode can analyze not just objects in an image, but also their relationships, materials, and layout — offering more nuanced answers than traditional search.

Example Use Case

Take a photo of a bookshelf. AI Mode identifies each book, pulls summaries, offers similar recommendations, and links to purchase or learn more — all in one reply. You can also refine the search with follow-up questions.

Why It Matters

Traditional search is optimized for short, text-based queries. But AI Mode is designed for longer, open-ended, and exploratory questions, which Google says are twice as long as average search queries.

By blending text and images, Google is clearly aiming to reshape how we interact with search — especially on mobile.

Who Can Use It?

• Now available to more U.S. users through Google Labs

• Works on Android and iOS via the Google app

  
  

Limitations

• Currently only available in Labs (not a full rollout)

• Visual search accuracy can vary depending on lighting and image quality

• No offline or local-only option — all processing is cloud-based

  
  

Summary

AI Mode’s multimodal upgrade is a step forward in making search more intuitive and image-aware. It’s early days, but the feature shows promise for more complex, real-world queries — especially for users who rely on mobile search.