Flagship product major update! Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOG.US, GOOGL.US) is testing a new AI search mode to handle complex queries.

Alphabet Inc. Class C's parent company Alphabet Inc. (GOOG.US, GOOGL.US) announced that it will be testing a new artificial intelligence-driven search mode called "AI Mode," which allows users to ask multi-layered questions and receive comprehensive answers that have been organized by AI. This feature suggests that Alphabet Inc. Class C Search, a core product, may undergo significant changes. Robby Stein, Vice President of Product Management at Alphabet Inc. Class C Search, stated in an interview that AI Mode can run multiple related searches in the background, predict the user's next areas of interest, and present search results in a coherent answer. This mode is more suitable for handling complex queries compared to traditional keyword searches. AI Mode will be offered as a separate search option and will run separately from the existing Alphabet Inc. Class C Search home page. Stein mentioned that initial tests of Alphabet Inc. Class C have shown that search queries inputted by users in AI Mode are twice as long as those in regular searches. This feature not only integrates information from the internet but also combines Alphabet Inc. Class C's own data systems, supporting textual, image, and video analysis. AI Mode is based on Alphabet Inc. Class C's latest Gemini 2.0 artificial intelligence model, which provides search with stronger understanding and reasoning capabilities. AI Mode will first be made available to subscribers of Alphabet Inc. Class C's AI service, marking a subtle shift in Alphabet Inc. Class C's search business model. Historically, Alphabet Inc. Class C Search has offered its services for free to all users, but the paid test for AI search suggests that Alphabet Inc. Class C may be exploring new commercial paths. This move may be related to competitive pressure from OpenAI's ChatGPT and other AI search startups (such as Perplexity and Anthropic). In the past, Alphabet Inc. Class C has been hesitant to make major adjustments to its search products, as the search business contributed nearly 60% of its total revenue in the fourth quarter of last year. However, the popularity of ChatGPT has led users to accept asking AI questions through conversation rather than just searching for web pages using keywords, prompting Alphabet Inc. Class C to accelerate its layout in the AI search field. Alphabet Inc. Class C's core competitive advantage in the search field lies in its vast knowledge graph, global shopping data, and access to the latest content on the web. However, the information integration brought by AI search has also highlighted issues with traffic distribution to external websites. In traditional search modes, users need to click on links to visit websites and obtain complete information, while AI Mode may provide complete answers directly on the search results page, reducing the need for users to visit web pages. This change has caused some content creators to worry about Alphabet Inc. Class C's AI search potentially weakening website traffic and affecting ad revenue. In response to this, Stein stated that AI Mode still provides ranking opportunities for websites, allowing them to showcase their value to more users. However, currently, Alphabet Inc. Class C's AI search has exacerbated concerns among some website owners about declining traffic, especially for news, blogs, and independent content platforms that rely on search engine traffic. In addition to launching AI Mode, Alphabet Inc. Class C also announced upgrades to its AI Overviews, introducing the latest version of the Gemini large language model. The new features will enhance search capabilities in areas such as mathematics and programming and will be made available to teenage users for the first time. This upgrade aims to allow AI to more accurately answer complex questions, improve the search experience, and further solidify Alphabet Inc. Class C's dominant position in the AI search market.