Google no longer just searches.

What Google announced on 19 May

At the I/O 2026 conference in Mountain View, Google presented a series of changes to Search that it describes as the most important evolution of its search box in more than 25 years. Sundar Pichai placed these announcements in what he calls the agentic era, where AI no longer just answers but carries out tasks.

Usage figures show the scale of this shift. AI Mode, launched a year earlier, has passed a billion monthly users, with a query volume that more than doubled every quarter according to Google. AI Overviews reach 2.5 billion users a month. Since 19 May, Gemini 3.5 Flash has been the default model for AI Mode for all users worldwide.

A search box that understands sentences

The new search box grows as you type. It is designed for long, precise requests, phrased as you would ask a person, and accepts text, images, files, videos or Chrome tabs. Rather than completing keywords, it helps you phrase the request.

It is being rolled out in the languages and countries where AI Mode is available, which includes Switzerland since October 2025. France only received AI Mode in July 2026, after a long blockage linked to press publishers’ neighbouring rights.

Agents that search on your behalf

The most far-reaching announcement concerns information agents. Once set up, they continuously monitor a topic, for example the price of a flight, a product coming back in stock or the development of a news story, using the web and Google’s data. When information matches the criteria, the user receives a summary with the option to act. Google is rolling them out first to AI Pro and Ultra subscribers.

The change is subtle but profound. Search is no longer a one-off act. It becomes delegated monitoring. For a website, it means being consulted by a system that keeps coming back to check whether something has changed, and that only retains accurate and recent information.

Answers that build their interface

Google also announced the arrival of the generative interface in Search, free for everyone from summer 2026. Relying on Gemini 3.5 Flash and on Antigravity, its agentic development platform, search can build the answer in the most suitable format: a comparison table, an interactive visual tool or a simulation specific to the question asked.

For the user, it is a more useful answer. For the websites providing the information, it is one more step between their content and the reader. Their data can feed a comparison without the original page being visited.

What it changes for websites

The question of clicks becomes more pressing. The available studies already show fewer clicks when an AI summary is displayed. Agents that monitor and interfaces that summarise extend this movement. The remaining traffic will be more qualified, but less abundant for simple queries.

At the same time, three qualities gain value. Accuracy, because an agent acting on wrong information passes the error directly on to the user. Freshness, because automated monitoring favours sources that reflect current reality, whether prices, availability or opening hours. Structure, because clearly presented information is easier to reuse correctly in a table or a summary.

For commerce, Google is steering merchants towards Merchant Center and the Universal Commerce Protocol, which is meant to let its agents complete purchases. For local businesses, towards Google Business Profile. These data feeds are becoming part of the online presence in the same way as the website.

One question remains open. When the engine chooses what it monitors, summarises and offers to carry out, its selection criteria become less visible to the user. After learning to search, we will have to learn to question its recommendations.

Frequently asked questions

What is Google’s new search box?

Presented at I/O 2026, it grows as you type and accepts long natural-language requests as well as images, files, videos and tabs. It is being rolled out in the countries and languages where AI Mode is available, including Switzerland.

What are Google’s information agents?

Agents that continuously monitor a topic (price, availability, news) and send a summary with the option to act when the criteria are met. They are offered first to Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers.

Is AI Mode available in Switzerland and France?

Yes. AI Mode has been available in Switzerland since October 2025, and in France since July 2026.