What is Google AI Mode?
AI Mode is an AI answer interface in Google Search built for follow-up questions: you ask something, get an AI-generated response with links to the web, and can keep asking to go deeper into the same topic.
Questions can be asked with text, voice, images or files. When Google announced the Traditional Chinese version of AI Mode in Taiwan on October 8, 2025, it said AI Mode uses a custom version of its Gemini model and is built directly into Google Search. That describes the underlying model; it does not mean AI Mode is the same thing as the Gemini app.
Four features of AI Mode
| Feature | What it means |
|---|---|
| Entry | The desktop help page lists three ways in: go to google.com/ai, enter a question at google.com and select AI Mode, or tap AI Mode on the Google app home screen. |
| Follow-up | You can keep asking about the same topic. To pick up where a previous conversation left off, history and personalized recommendations must be turned on. |
| Query fan-out | AI Mode divides a question into subtopics, searches for each one simultaneously across multiple data sources, then brings the results together into one response. |
| Fallback | When the system lacks enough confidence in the quality or helpfulness of an AI response, it may provide a set of web links instead. |
Where is AI Mode history?
Open google.com/ai and check that you are signed in to the account used for the earlier search.
- On desktop, select AI Mode history on the left. In an Android or iPhone/iPad browser, look at the top.
- Select a saved question to continue it.
If the list is empty, check your account and history settings. AI Mode still works without history and personalized recommendations, but cannot resume past searches.
Google: desktop instructions · Android browser · iPhone/iPad browser
How to delete AI Mode history
- One search: open More (⋯) beside the item, then select Delete.
- All searches: open More at the top of the history list, then select Delete all.
Deleted items may remain in My Activity temporarily; Google says they are removed within 24 hours. You can also delete them there manually.
If you entered AI Mode from an AI Overview, the original query may be a separate Search history entry. Delete that separately if you also want it removed.
Google: deletion and synchronization · Google Search history (My Activity)
What if the AI Mode entry point is missing?
- Try google.com/ai directly, the AI Mode tab after a Google search, or the Google app home screen.
- Check Google's supported countries and languages. Language support does not imply availability in every country using that language.
- If only history is missing, check history settings. For Workspace accounts with Search and Assistant disabled, an administrator must enable Search history.
- Check Search Labs separately. Its experiment offers early features; enabling Labs is not a universal requirement for regular AI Mode.
Google is updating Search services settings, so labels and positions may differ. These checks do not guarantee that a missing entry point will return.
Google: AI Mode access and availability · Google: AI Mode in Search Labs
AI Mode vs AI Overviews
AI Overviews appear on the regular search results page, and only when Google's systems determine they add to classic Search, so many queries do not show one. AI Mode is something users choose to enter. Google describes it as expanding what AI Overviews can do, with more advanced reasoning and ways of interacting, and as particularly helpful for queries that need further exploration, reasoning or complex comparisons.
Query fan-out is not unique to AI Mode: Google says both AI Overviews and AI Mode may use the technique. The two may use different models and techniques, so the responses and links they show will vary.
Search Console also counts position differently for each. An AI Overview occupies a single position, and every link inside it is assigned that same position. Position in AI Mode follows the same method as a regular Google results page. A follow-up question in AI Mode is counted as a new query.
What it means for site owners
Google says there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, and no special optimizations are needed. To be eligible as a supporting link, a page must be indexed and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet.
For performance data, both are reported in Search Console's Performance report under the Web search type. A separate generative AI performance report covers impressions from AI Overviews and AI Mode, and as of August 31, 2026, it had rolled out to all websites worldwide. Its help page lists breakdowns by page, country, date and device, and does not mention a way to view the two features separately.
Scope and limits
AI Mode is a Google Search feature. This entry relies only on Google's public documentation; LS-Labs has no observational data of its own on AI Mode.
Google warns that AI responses may include mistakes, and says it will keep expanding AI Mode's functionality and updating its interface. The official pages were checked on November 2, 2026, and Google's help page itself notes that the settings it describes are being updated and may not match what you see.
Sources and scope
Operation steps checked against Google documentation on November 2, 2026. Diagrams show navigation paths, not live interface screenshots.
- Google Search Help (undated): Get AI-powered responses with AI Mode in Google Search
- Hema Budaraju, Google Taiwan blog (2025): announcement of AI Mode in Traditional Chinese (in Chinese)
- Google Search Central (2025): AI features and your website
- Search Console Help (undated): What are impressions, position, and clicks?
- Search Console Help (undated): Generative AI performance report (Search)
Sources reflect the official documentation linked above; operation steps checked on 2026-11-02.