GoKawiilFor the past couple of years, Google I/O has been the stage exclusively for AI announcements, and this year wasn’t any different. This time, however, the focus was back on Google Search, but perhaps not in the way we expected. Instead of addressing the long-standing, fundamental problems with Search, Google introduced a lot of AI integrations into its marquee search engine — so much so that the line between Google Search and Gemini is increasingly becoming difficult to make out.
While AI Overviews and AI Mode have been meaningful additions to Search despite their rough start, it now seems that Google is merging two products with fundamentally different purposes. That makes one wonder: if Search can now behave like Gemini, what exactly is Gemini supposed to be?
If Google Search can do Gemini-like tasks, should Google merge them? 80 votes Yes, combine them into one product 31 % No, keep both separate 49 % Rename Search to Gemini Search 5 % What's the difference, again? 15 %
Google Search did need some of that AI
Artificial intelligence has fundamentally changed how we interact with search engines. A lot of us have already started being more conversational in our queries, typing longer questions, explaining our perspective, using natural language, and asking follow-up questions. The new unified search box — that brings together the simplicity of conventional search and the reasoning of AI — further reduces friction because users no longer have to think about using the right keywords in searches.
The new unified search box further reduces friction because users no longer have to think about using the right keywords in searches.
Search’s primary input method has been text, but we have long been able to reverse-search images quite successfully. The next logical step is giving it multimodal capability to help it understand and search based on different media types like video and audio, and combine them with your text input. And it’s finally getting smarter at keeping track of price drops and new product launches in the background and alerting you as soon as it sees something move.
These kinds of information agents in Search are indeed useful, as long as you are fine with braving another notification avalanche from your search engine. This feature, specifically, sits right at the boundary that differentiates Search from Gemini.
Google Search is morphing into Gemini
Search is supposed to have a very specific function: looking up the web and bringing up direct links that match the query. Gemini, on the other hand, also has access to the entire World Wide Web and all the information that resides within it, but its job goes a couple of steps further — understanding that information and explaining it to me in a way I understand. AI Overviews and AI Mode partially took over that job within Search, but Gemini’s separate identity remained unaffected through its multimodal capabilities, embedded generative tools, and Google Workspace-wide integration.
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