Google expands generative AI features to global search results

Image credit: Search Engine Journal

Google is expanding its generative user interface capabilities from AI Mode into AI Overviews, enabling custom visual layouts, interactive tools and simulations directly within general search results, the company announced.

Google first introduced its generative UI feature in AI Mode in November 2025, coinciding with the launch of Gemini 3, and announced at its I/O 2026 conference that this functionality would become free and available to everyone in Search by summer 2026.

Full global availability of generative UI in AI Overviews is expected in the coming weeks, launching initially in English and timed to coincide with the back-to-school season, Google said in a statement.

Additional features being introduced alongside the generative UI expansion include practice quizzes, Lens coaching and study notebooks, all aimed at enhancing educational support for students.

The integration of generative UI into AI Overviews could significantly impact websites that currently offer similar functionalities, such as online calculators or interactive educational tools, by providing these services directly within Google’s search results.

Google stated that the expansion aims to provide users with more immediate and interactive ways to engage with information, moving beyond traditional text-based search results.

Source: Search Engine Journal