How AI Mode is changing the way people search in the U.S

Google AI Blog's May 20, 2026 report on How AI Mode is changing the way people search in the U.S says: One year ago, Google launched AI Mode in the United States. Now, it has surpassed a billion monthly active users globally and AI Mode queries have more than doubled every quarter since launch.

Search’s new AI features are the leading reason why Google’re seeing queries at an all-time high. And because AI Mode bridges the gap between a traditional search engine and conversational AI, Google’ve found that people aren’t just searching more, they’re searching differently, asking the questions that are really on their mind.

Google dove deeper into how people are using AI Mode in the U.S. and the data is clear: AI Mode isn’t just changing how people search, it’s expanding the very definition of what’s searchable.

Here are some of the key insights about AI Mode in the U.S. one year since launch:

Searching beyond text: More than one in six searches in the U.S. now use voice or images, with image searches growing over 40% month-over-month.

Asking longer questions: While Google’re seeing growth in both short and long queries in AI Mode, the average AI Mode search is triple the length of a traditional Search query.