Google rolls out AI Mode search to more languages and regions

Google has been rapidly expanding the availability of AI Mode in Search since it previewed the feature with testers in its Labs program at the beginning of March this year.

Alphabet Inc. announced on Tuesday that it is rolling out the dedicated AI chatbot within Search to 40 new regions and has made it available in 35 additional languages. The newly supported languages include Arabic, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Dutch, German, Greek, French, Malay, Russian, Thai, Vietnamese, and more.

Google claims that its custom Gemini model for Search, which features advanced reasoning and multimodal understanding, allows it to grasp the subtleties of local languages. This ensures that it does not misunderstand inquiries or generate awkward responses.

Two months after testing the feature in May, Google rolled it out to everyone in the US. At the time, it said that it would “graduate many features and capabilities from AI Mode right into the core search experience in AI Overviews” as it gets more feedback.

In early September, Google expanded its AI Mode to include more languages, specifically Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, and Brazilian Portuguese. In the upcoming weeks, users in these new regions will start to see AI Mode responses on their Search pages and will be able to interact with the feature in their preferred language.

The company also plans to enhance AI Mode further and recently released an update that improves its ability to understand visual prompts.

However, it is noteworthy that while AI Mode results can be helpful for quick inquiries, online publishers have reported a decline in web traffic attributed to the AI-generated summaries.

A Pew Research Center study found that users prefer to end their browsing session if they notice an AI Mode summary at the top of their results webpage.