Google Unveils AI-Powered Search Features Including "Canvas" and "Search Live"

New Features in Google’s AI Mode Enhance User Experience

Google has introduced several enhancements to its experimental AI Mode in Search, aiming to provide a more interactive and personalized experience for users. One of the most notable features is the upcoming chat-style response option, which will be available to users in the UK. This new feature moves away from the traditional list of blue links, offering a more dynamic way to interact with search results.

A key component of this update is the Canvas feature, a side-panel workspace designed to help users draft and refine project outlines or study plans across multiple sessions. By clicking the “Create Canvas” button, users can start a draft that can be refined step by step using follow-up prompts. This functionality allows for a more structured approach to planning and organizing information.

Before the end of the year, Canvas will also support the upload of materials such as lecture notes or course syllabi, enabling users to customize their plans based on specific documents. U.S. participants in the AI Mode Labs trial should see this rollout within the coming weeks.

Introducing Search Live: A New Integration

In addition to Canvas, Google is integrating Project Astra’s technology into AI Mode under a new name, Search Live. This feature is integrated with Google Lens and allows users to tap the Live icon in the Lens view, point the camera at an object, and ask questions as if accompanied by a remote expert.

Robby Stein, vice president of product for Google Search, described the experience as having an expert on speed dial who can see what’s in view and explain tricky concepts in real time, all while providing easy access to helpful links on the web.

This week, video-enabled Search Live will launch on mobile devices for U.S. testers in AI Mode Labs. Shortly after, Google plans to allow desktop users to 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.

Expanding Support for Image and Document Features

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

Advertising Strategy for AI Mode

Google is still finalizing its ad strategy for AI Mode. Hema Budaraju, Google’s product manager for search, mentioned that the company is determining how advertising will work within AI responses and whether sites can pay to appear there. 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.

Addressing Concerns and Commitment to Sustainability

Meanwhile, a Pew Research Center study found that AI-first summaries yielded only one click per 100 searches, though Google disputed the methods. 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.