Google is adding new multimedia tools to its AI Mode in Search, making it more interactive and contextual for complex tasks.
These upgrades include Canvas for planning projects, the option to upload and analyze PDF documents on desktop, and a feature called Search Live.
With Canvas, you can do more than the usual question-and-answer work.
Canvas works as a side panel in AI Mode on desktop. What makes it special is that it saves your work. Unlike regular searches, Canvas keeps all your notes, outlines, and links across multiple sessions. You can start a project, leave, and come back later to find everything exactly as you left it.
It also helps you structure complex tasks and long-term projects from start to finish.
The workspace is good for many planning needs. You can make study schedules, project outlines, travel itineraries, or DIY checklists. As you search, you can add information, links, and ideas from search results directly into your Canvas plan. The process is interactive, so you can improve your plans in real time.
You can now upload PDFs and images directly into AI Mode on desktop. This means you can ask specific questions about your own files, like analyzing data in a report or getting help with homework.
This changes the search engine into a personal research helper that makes complex information simpler and turns static documents into interactive ones. Students and teachers will find this especially useful. Google plans to add the ability to upload files directly from Google Drive in the future.
The new “Search Live,” based on Google’s Project Astra, combines Google’s camera-based Lens tool with AI Mode. Mobile users can point their phone’s camera at a physical object, diagram, or text to ask questions and get immediate, AI-powered help.
The AI looks at what your camera sees, gives you information, and lets you ask follow-up questions. It’s sort of like having a tutoring or troubleshooting session that uses AI and information from the web to help you.
Canvas, content uploads, and Search Live are a step away from the old list of links. Google is changing Search into an “answer engine” and interactive helper that organizes, analyzes, and works with information, not just finds it.
Google wants to make Search more useful for students, researchers, and other users. Website owners are worried, though. If Google shows complete answers directly on the results page, people might not visit their sites, reducing the traffic they depend on for revenue.
Google is also still figuring out how ads will work in this new format. The company is working on how advertisers can stay visible and effective as Search becomes more interactive and conversation-based.
The tools are being released in stages. Canvas is currently rolling out to US desktop users enrolled in the Search Labs program. The video-enabled Search Live is launching first for mobile testers in the US. Access to all the new AI Mode features is limited to specific regions for now, as Google plans a wider rollout after collecting user feedback.
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