At the 2025 Google I/O conference in Mountain View, California, Google laid out its most ambitious AI vision yet. From a total overhaul of Search to powerful new AI subscriptions and futuristic smart glasses, the message was clear: Google isn’t just catching up in the AI race—it’s aiming to lead it.
Search in the AI Era
Google’s core product, Search, is undergoing a dramatic transformation. The newly introduced “AI Mode” allows users to enter complex, multi-part questions and receive AI-generated answers rather than traditional link lists. This marks a move away from the classic blue-link format to a more intuitive, conversational interface.
AI Mode now supports nuanced, real-time answers across topics like finance, sports, and shopping, even letting users preview outfits with “try it on” visual features. This feature, which began as an experiment, is now rolling out across the U.S. and is central to Google’s evolving approach to organizing the world’s information.
Google also introduced Search Live, a feature allowing real-time search based on what the user’s phone camera sees. Meanwhile, Deep Search and Project Mariner enable the AI to dig deeper into web pages and even automate tasks like booking tickets or navigating websites without user intervention.
Despite concerns that AI-generated results might hurt website traffic, Google insists this evolution will expand, not shrink, web engagement—while also enabling new forms of highly relevant advertising.
Gemini Ultra
Perhaps the boldest move is the launch of the Gemini Ultra subscription plan, priced at $249.99/month. This tier offers users access to Google’s most advanced AI tools, including:
- Gemini 2.5 Pro with Deep Think mode, enabling multi-step reasoning.
- Project Mariner, an AI agent that browses and acts across websites on your behalf.
- Veo 3, a video generation model that creates film-quality scenes complete with dialogue, sound effects, and motion.
- Imagen 4, an ultra-fast, high-fidelity image generator capable of producing realistic textures and 2K visuals.
- Gemini Live, an AI assistant that can converse in real-time with users while watching their phone camera feed or screen.
- 30TB of Google Drive storage and YouTube Premium access.
This plan positions Google alongside other AI subscription giants like OpenAI and Anthropic, as all race to fund the astronomical costs of developing and deploying generative AI.
Project Astra and the Future of Smart Devices
A major highlight was Google’s return to smart glasses. A demo featured two speakers conversing in different languages while the glasses provided live, lens-based translations. Powered by Project Astra — Google DeepMind’s low-latency, multimodal AI platform — the glasses also answered questions about the user’s environment.
Google plans to launch an XR headset developed with Samsung later this year and has partnered with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster to develop future AR glasses running Android XR.
AI Across Everything
AI is also being deeply integrated across Google’s ecosystem. The Gemini app now has over 400 million monthly users. New updates include:
- Gemini in Chrome, offering contextual understanding of webpages.
- AI Workspace features in Gmail, Docs, and Vids, including personalized smart replies, inbox cleaning, and content creation tools.
- NotebookLM updates like personalized PDF and image upload support.
- SynthID Detector, a watermarking tool to identify AI-generated content.
- Stitch, a tool that generates HTML/CSS app front-ends from text or image prompts.
- Jules, an AI developer assistant for debugging, GitHub management, and code comprehension.
- In Android Studio, new tools like “Journeys” and “Agent Mode” allow developers to offload complex workflows to AI, while enhanced crash insights provide real-time code fixes powered by Gemini.
Devices and Developer Tools
Wear OS 6 brings dynamic theming and UI improvements to Pixel Watches. On the Play Store, developers get new subscription management tools, faster testing pipelines, and pages for curated content like movies and shows.
Android Studio now includes tools for smarter crash analysis and error fixing.
Beam (formerly Starline) was reintroduced as a 3D telepresence tool featuring real-time translation and realistic rendering through multi-angle camera arrays.
AI Is Now Google’s Strategy
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai emphasized that AI will not replace search—it will enhance and expand it. AI-powered features, he said, are enabling Google to serve more complex use cases than ever before.
With over $75 billion allocated to AI-related capital expenditure this year, it’s clear that Google is betting its future on building an ecosystem where AI isn’t just a feature — it’s the foundation.
And as competitors race to offer similar capabilities, Google’s message is unmistakable: the future of search, content creation, and productivity is generative, multimodal, and deeply integrated across every screen you touch.
Prepared by Navruzakhon Burieva
