Google is expanding AI Mode in Search with features like "Canvas" and "Search Live"

Google announced enhancements to its experimental AI Mode in Search, including an upcoming chat‑style response option for UK users that moves beyond the traditional list of blue links.

On Tuesday, Google shared one of the key features is Canvas, a side‑panel workspace that enables drafting and refinement of project outlines or study plans across multiple sessions.

Clicking the “Create Canvas” button starts a draft that can be refined step by step using follow-up prompts.

Before year‑end, Canvas will also support the upload of materials, such as lecture notes or a course syllabus, to further customize the plan to those documents. U.S. participants in the AI Mode Labs trial should see this rollout within the coming weeks.

What is Google’s Search Live?

Google is also bringing Project Astra’s technology into AI Mode under a new name, Search Live.

Integrated with Google Lens, Search Live enables tapping the Live icon in the Lens view, pointing the camera at an object, and posing questions as if accompanied by a remote expert.

“When going Live with Search, it’s like having an expert on speed dial who can see what’s in view and talk through tricky concepts in real time, all with easy access to helpful links on the web,” said Robby Stein, vice president of product for Google Search.

This week, video‑enabled Search Live will launch on mobile devices for U.S. testers in AI Mode Labs.

Shortly after, Google plans to let desktop users query displayed content via Lens in AI Mode. For example, when viewing a geometry diagram in a browser, users can select “Ask Google about this page,” pick the diagram, and receive an AI‑generated summary with a “Dive deeper” follow‑up button in the side panel.

Desktop support for AI Mode’s image and document features is expanding, too. While image‑based queries have long been available on mobile, they’ll now work on computers as well. A new PDF uploader will allow dropping in slide decks or reports and posing detailed questions that go beyond the text. Later this year, additional file types, such as documents stored in Google Drive, will be supported.

Google is yet to finalize its ad strategy for AI mode

Hema Budaraju, Google’s product manager for search, said that the company is still determining how advertising will work within AI responses and whether sites can pay to appear there, reported BBC. She noted that this new interface encourages richer, more natural queries, where once someone might have typed “clean carpet stain,” they might now write, “I spilled coffee on my Berber carpet and need a pet‑safe cleaner.”

In a recent demonstration, Google showed how AI Mode could suggest family‑friendly strawberry‑picking locations across a broad area, with business listings appearing lower in the results than in a standard search.

Meanwhile, a Pew Research Center study found that AI‑first summaries yielded only one click per 100 searches, though Google disputed the methods. Still, advocates like Rosa Curling of Foxglove warn that keeping users’ attention on Google’s own pages could undermine news outlets’ advertising revenue.

Finally, Google noted that it already generates more than two billion AI Overview boxes each day, across over 40 languages, excluding the EU due to regulations. The company acknowledged that running AI at scale requires extensive data‑center resources, including significant energy and water, and reaffirmed its commitment to advancing sustainable practices.

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