Google changes search bar for the first time in 25 years/ The role of artificial intelligence

2026-05-19 22:35:00, Tech CNA

Google changes search bar for the first time in 25 years/ The role of artificial

For 25 years, Google's iconic search bar has been a long, thin bar where users typed in keywords like "World Cup," "News," "Weather" and so on. But in the past three years, artificial intelligence has allowed users to type in longer, more complex questions, like: "What are the top 24 teams in the World Cup and what are the United States' chances of qualifying?"

Google said Tuesday that the shift to artificial intelligence has inspired it to reshape its iconic search bar for the first time since 2001. The bar is getting bigger and more interactive, so users can ask even bigger questions and upload photos and videos to their searches.

Introducing our brand new, intelligent Search box — totally reimagined with AI. This is the biggest upgrade to our Search box in 25 years and it's starting to roll out today.

Designed to anticipate your intent, the new Search box helps you formulate your question with AI-powered… pic.twitter.com/hgEI2BzhwV
— Google (@Google) May 19, 2026

In addition, users can ask follow-up questions via a chatbot on Google's main search page. The company will also offer digital assistants, known as "agents," to automate searches, so that someone looking for an apartment can be notified of new listings without having to open a real estate website.

"Gemini 3.5 Flash", the new artificial intelligence model

The search functions will be powered by a new artificial intelligence model, Gemini 3.5 Flash. Google stressed that the model has improved in performing autonomous tasks, works faster and is less expensive to operate compared to similar models.

Sundar Pichai, Google’s chief executive, said Gemini’s speed and affordability made it possible to make it widely available, which will ultimately benefit Google.

“When people use our AI-powered features in search, they use search more,” Pichai said in an interview today ahead of Google’s annual developer conference. The changes to search and Gemini 3.5 were the focus of a nearly two-hour presentation of the company’s AI-powered products, including a new video tool, an online shopping cart and a system for autonomously reading and writing email.

Google has been closing the gap with rivals like OpenAI in the AI ??space and is starting to challenge for the top spot. After OpenAI launched ChatGPT in 2022, Google worried that AI startups would disrupt its dominance in search. Those concerns were heightened after one of its early AI products recommended that users use glue to make pizza.

But in the past year, Google has solidified its position as a major AI company. In addition to its Gemini models, it has been manufacturing AI chips and investing hundreds of billions of dollars in data centers for its cloud computing business. The Gemini app, which can do programming and search, now has 900 million active users, about the same number as ChatGPT. /CNA