[I/O 2026] Google overhauls Search around AI and agents

Google overhauls Search with Gemini 3.5 Flash and Antigravity, introducing agents, conversational AI, and custom real-time interfaces for global users.

Google is undertaking the most significant overhaul of its search engine in over twenty-five years, placing AI and agents at the heart of the experience. AI mode, which launched a year ago, exceeds one billion monthly active users, a total that Google says has more than doubled each quarter, with query volume reaching a record high in the latest period. It now defaults to Gemini 3.5 Flash.

A redesigned search field takes center stage. It expands based on query complexity, suggests phrasing, and accepts multiple input types, from text to images, files, videos, and open Chrome tabs; its rollout begins in countries and languages where AI mode is active. From an AI Overview, a follow-up question transitions into a continuous conversation that maintains context, an experience extended to desktop and mobile globally.

Search also opens up to agents. Information agents monitor selected topics in the background, cross-referencing web sources and real-time data, then return a summary accompanied by possible actions, such as an alert on real estate listings or price fluctuations; they arrive this summer for Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers. Booking capabilities are extended to local services and experiences, with availability, prices, and direct links, with Google able to call certain establishments itself for home repair, beauty, or pet care, these functions becoming generally available in the United States over the summer. New agentic capabilities also target direct purchasing from Search.

Agentic coding is also coming to the engine, via Antigravity and Gemini 3.5 Flash. Search generates custom interfaces in real time, combining interactive visuals, tables, graphs, and simulations, and can set up dashboards for a project, from a move to a fitness routine. These generative interfaces will be free for all users this summer, while the creation of mini-applications via Antigravity will follow in the coming months, first for Pro and Ultra subscribers in the United States. Personalized Intelligence finally expands without a subscription to nearly 200 countries and 98 languages, with optional connection to Gmail and Google Photos, soon Calendar, under user control.