Google Adds Visual Search And Shopping To AI Mode In The U.S

Oct 1, 2025 — Google rolled out a major update to its AI Mode in Search that lets people ask conversational questions and explore results visually, including shoppable product grids, the company said in a blog post published Sep. 30, 2025. The update begins this week in English in the United States, with no global timeline announced.

The new experience is designed to turn vague ideas, such as a desired “vibe” for home décor, into image-rich results users can refine with natural-language follow-ups or by uploading a photo. Google said the system draws on its Shopping Graph of more than 50 billion listings, refreshed over 2 billion times per hour, to surface availability, reviews and deals.

Under the hood, Google said the feature combines Lens/Image Search with Gemini 2.5’s multimodal capabilities and a new “visual search fan-out” technique to analyze images and context more deeply before running multiple background queries.

The company positioned AI Mode as an opt-in tab that extends its AI Overviews work. A Google explainer published in May 2025 said more than 1.5 billion users have tried AI Overviews globally, and noted that early AI Mode testers submitted twice-as-long queries versus traditional search.

Visual, conversational exploration in AI Mode (not just text links), with image uploads and iterative follow-ups, plus a shopping flow that can be steered by natural phrases (e.g., “barrel jeans that aren’t too baggy”).

Why it matters: Google is pushing Search deeper into multimodal territory as rivals evolve, aiming to keep product discovery and open-web exploration inside Google’s interface while signaling quality controls and links out to merchants and publishers.

The release did not disclose when AI Mode’s visual experience will reach markets outside the U.S., languages beyond English, specific device/version requirements, or advertising/merchant policy changes tied to the rollout.