Google has officially begun rolling out an “AI Mode” button directly in the search box on its homepage. The change places generative AI functionality front and centre, highlighting Google’s urgency to catch up to rival platforms like ChatGPT. The update replaces the long-standing “I’m Feeling Lucky” feature and is visible to users across Chrome, Safari, and Edge browsers. Although not yet available to everyone, the placement marks a pivotal moment for Google’s AI integration strategy.
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AI Mode Replaces Iconic Widget, Signals Strategic Shift
The AI Mode button now appears just below the main search field on Google.com, replacing the familiar “I’m Feeling Lucky” feature that has occupied the space for decades. This shift, first observed by users on both Mac and PC platforms, indicates Google’s commitment to embedding artificial intelligence directly into its core search experience. Google confirmed the feature is being tested and rolled out gradually to users in the U.S. and India. A spokesperson stated that AI Mode is part of the company’s Search Labs program, which experiments with new tools and functionalities.
This development follows internal design tests from 2023, where the company explored replacing homepage elements with AI-related suggestions and widgets. Although Google announced AI Mode trials in March, those tests were initially limited to the search results page. This is the first time the feature has appeared on the homepage—a space the company rarely modifies.
Competitive Pressure from ChatGPT and Microsoft Bing
The inclusion of AI Mode on Google’s homepage underscores the competitive landscape in search technology. Since the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, Google has faced pressure to evolve its search engine beyond traditional keyword results. According to a company analysis shared during an antitrust hearing, Google’s Gemini AI has 35 million daily users compared to ChatGPT’s 160 million. This disparity has prompted Google to utilise its most valuable real estate, the homepage, to promote AI functionality.
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, has also been investing heavily in AI to regain its lead. Recently, it launched the AI Futures Fund to support emerging AI startups. Internally, it continues to develop Gemini 2.5 Pro, a more advanced AI engine available through Google AI Pro and AI Ultra plans.
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Access, Capabilities, and Limitations of AI Mode
AI Mode borrows the concept of the AI Overviews and extends it by using more extensive reasoning and multiple steps query processing. Through a technique termed as a query fan-out, it separates the question posed by a user into subtopics and concurrently searches the web on the items of interest. The AI will then compile the results into a structured answer including references and links to outside sources to be checked.
AI Mode is available to users in three ways of using the button on the Google homepage, the URL (google.com/aimode), or the Google app. It can handle text, voice and even image-based queries via Google Lens. Continuity is also provided in AI Mode with all of the users who have Search history enabled being able to use it to perform continuity enabled to keep up their progress. Google however warns that the feature is still experimental and may come back with partial or wrong information. It gives users an option to give feedback through thumbs-up and thumbs-down to facilitate the accuracy.
Available to most users in the U.S. and India in the AI Mode. It will be available to more people even though accounts (Workspace users and supervised child accounts) have limitations based on administrative settings.
Positioning the button AI Mode on its home page directly, Google is sending out a message that a new era is taking over its search business, and that is generative AI. The move can be seen as a defensive and offensive measure taken by the company to stay ahead of the user engagement and also to assert the abilities of its Gemini models since Open AI and Microsoft slowly rise to prominence. This may or may not apply as it will be a user adoption and feedback after a few weeks.