Google has announced a massive expansion of its AI Mode feature, bringing this advanced search experience to 180 countries and territories worldwide. This represents a significant leap from its previous availability in just three markets: the United States, United Kingdom, and India.
A New Era of AI-Powered Search
AI Mode was introduced in the US within Search Labs back in March 2025, then rolled out fully to US searchers without requiring opt-in via Labs in mid-June. The feature represents Google’s vision of moving “beyond information to intelligence,” offering users a more conversational and comprehensive search experience.
AI Mode is a new tab within Google Search that brings you into a more AI-like interface, particularly helpful for queries where further exploration, reasoning, or comparisons are needed. Unlike traditional search results, AI Mode allows users to explore topics and receive comprehensive AI-based answers without needing to perform manual comparisons and analyses.
Revolutionary Agentic Capabilities
The expansion comes with groundbreaking new functionality that goes beyond simple question-answering. Google is introducing agentic capabilities that can help accomplish everyday tasks that are more complex, starting with finding restaurant reservations.
Users can now specify detailed preferences including party size, date, time, location, and preferred cuisine. AI Mode will search across multiple reservation platforms and websites to find real-time availability for restaurants that meet specific needs, delivering a curated list of dining options and available time slots with direct links to booking pages.
This sophisticated functionality is powered by what Google calls Project Mariner, which leverages live web browsing capabilities, Google’s Knowledge Graph, Maps listings, and direct partner integrations with reservation platforms including OpenTable, Resy, Tock, and Ticketmaster.
Personalization Takes Center Stage
Beyond agentic features, Google is introducing personalized recommendations within AI Mode. Starting with dining-related topics, the system will help users discover new restaurants and cafes that match their unique tastes based on past chats, Search history, and Maps history.
The feature also includes a new sharing capability, allowing users to generate shareable links with a share.google/aimode format. These public links let others continue conversations by asking follow-ups, and can be deleted at any time by the original user.
Global Rollout Strategy
The current expansion covers 180 countries and territories, though AI Mode remains available only in English for now. Google plans to add more languages and regions soon. This English-only limitation represents a temporary constraint as Google scales the technology globally.
The agentic restaurant reservation feature is currently rolling out to Google AI Ultra subscribers in the United States through the “Agentic capabilities in AI Mode” experiment in Labs. Google plans to expand these capabilities soon to include local service appointments and event tickets.
The Competitive Landscape
This expansion positions Google aggressively in the AI search market, where competition continues to intensify. The ability to not just provide information but actively help users complete tasks represents a significant evolution in search functionality. For businesses monitoring their visibility in this new AI-driven search landscape, understanding how these changes affect organic discovery becomes crucial.
As AI-powered search features become more prevalent across different platforms and regions, companies need sophisticated tools to track their performance across these varied AI experiences. The complexity of monitoring visibility across traditional search results, AI overviews, and now agentic AI interactions requires specialized AI visibility tracking solutions.
Looking Ahead
Google’s aggressive rollout of AI Mode represents more than just a feature expansion—it signals a fundamental shift in how people will interact with search engines. The move from passive information retrieval to active task completion through AI agents suggests we’re entering a new phase of digital assistance.
As Google continues to infuse AI into every aspect of online experiences, this global expansion of AI Mode marks a significant milestone in making advanced AI capabilities accessible to users worldwide. The success of these agentic features in restaurant reservations will likely determine how quickly Google expands into other domains, potentially transforming how we approach everything from travel planning to professional services.
The implications for businesses are substantial. As AI Mode becomes the primary interface for complex queries and task completion, understanding and optimizing for this new search paradigm will be essential for maintaining digital visibility and customer engagement in an AI-first world.