At last year's I/O conference, Google introduced AI Overviews, which have driven a major shift in Google search and in the internet's information environment at large. AI Mode promises an even deeper, more chatbot-like experience right in the search bar.

The way we ‘Google’ is changing. Disorienting as it may be, our favourite search engine is becoming an ‘answer engine’. But do the benefits outweigh the downsides?

It is true that AI Mode can help answer complex topics and offers a distinctly different experience from traditional Google Search. AI Mode works by sending out multiple related questions based on your initial single prompt. The responses from AI Mode are more comprehensive because they are based on simultaneous hunts by Google's Gemini AI.