Powered by A.I., Google Changes Its Search Box for the First Time in 25 Years
Using a new Gemini A.I. model, the tech giant is overhauling its search box dimensions to answer longer queries, adding a video-generation tool and simplifying online shopping.
Using a new Gemini A.I. model, the tech giant is overhauling its search box dimensions to answer longer queries, adding a video-generation tool and simplifying online shopping.
For 25 years, Google’s iconic search box was a long, slender bar where people typed in keywords like “World Cup.”
But over the past three years, artificial intelligence allowed people to type in longer, more complex questions like “Who are the top 24 teams in the World Cup and what chance does the United States have of advancing?”
On Tuesday, Google said the A.I. shift had inspired it to overhaul the dimensions of its search bar for the first time since 2001. The box is getting bigger and more interactive so that people can ask even longer questions and upload photographs and videos into queries.
In addition, people can ask follow-up questions with a chatbot on Google’s main search page. The company will also offer digital assistants, known as agents, to automate searches so that someone who may be apartment hunting can be notified of a new listing without opening a real estate site like Zillow.
The search features will be powered by a new artificial intelligence model, Gemini 3.5 Flash. Google said the model had improved on creating software code and performing autonomous tasks, worked faster and was less expensive to run than comparable models.
Sundar Pichai, Google’s chief executive, said Gemini’s speed and affordability made it possible to deliver it broadly — which will ultimately benefit Google.
