Google continues to expand its AI-powered search capabilities. The company launched AI Overviews two years ago and now has 1.5 billion monthly users in over 100 countries. This marks the beginning of a new era of AI-generated answers on Google Search.
AI Overviews — A new search format, AI Overviews, instead of traditional links, provides users with concise answers from AI based on data collected from across the web. For example, Google already provides a ready-made, condensed answer to questions like “What is generative AI?” This simplifies the search experience, but it also causes traffic to decrease for some publications.
AI-powered revenue and user engagement Google sees AI Overviews not only as a user convenience, but also as a new source of revenue. In October 2024, the company began placing ads within AI answers. Recently, AI Mode has begun testing — a feature that allows users to ask complex questions and continue their search in a conversational manner. This is Google’s answer to chat-based search platforms like ChatGPT or Perplexity.
Circle to Search and the growth of visual search Google highlighted several other AI search products in its Q1 2025 financial report:
- Circle to Search — the ability to point to anything on a smartphone screen and immediately ask a question. This feature is now available on more than 250 million devices, and its use increased by 40% during the quarter.
- The number of visual searches through Google Lens has increased by 5 billion since October. In particular, the Lens shopping function grew by 10% in the first quarter of 2025.
Under pressure from regulators While all these innovations open up growth opportunities for Google, the company is under serious regulatory pressure. The US Department of Justice is demanding that Google separate its Chrome browser and is taking action against the company’s monopoly in online search and advertising technologies.
