Google has announced the rollout of its AI mode in Ireland.
The company has described the new tool as its most powerful AI search experience with more advanced reasoning and multimodality.
From today, AI mode will appear as a tab on the search results page and in the Google app for Android and iOS.
Google said the new system will use a custom version of its advanced Gemini AI models for searches, allowing people to ask nuanced questions that would have previously required multiple searches.
It added that the AI mode is designed to be truly multimodal, meaning questions can be asked by text, voice or camera.
Companies have expressed concerns that AI overviews, which appear at the top of internet searches, are damaging traffic to their websites because instead of clicking into a specific homepage, users get their information from the AI summary.
However, Google said that with AI overviews, people have been visiting a greater diversity of websites for help with more complex questions.
"And when people click from search result pages with AI overviews, these clicks are higher quality for websites - meaning users are more likely to spend more time on the sites they visit," Google said.
The company added that AI mode is rooted in its core quality and ranking systems, and that "novel approaches" are being used to improve factuality.
"Google aims to show an AI-powered response as much as possible, but in cases where there isn't high confidence, users will see a set of web search results," the company said.
"As with any early-stage AI product, it won't always be right, but Google is committed to continuous improvement," it added.
