- Google Search now uses Gemini 3 to generate responses for AI overviews
- The update aims to improve answers to more complex questions.
- The update also allows users to go directly from AI overviews to an AI mode conversation.
Google Search has updated its AI overview answers with its Gemini 3 AI model to better answer complex queries in a single snapshot. The update also lets you go from an AI overview response directly to a conversation in Google Search AI mode on mobile without having to switch tabs or start over.
AI overviews, those little summaries that sit on top of traditional search results, are designed to condense long, confusing answers to complicated questions without requiring you to click on links. Making Gemini 3 the default model for mobile AI overviews globally means answers will be smarter, longer and better structured, according to Google.
As improved as those answers are, they may not be everything you want. That’s where the connection between static AI overviews and interactive AI mode for Google Search comes into play. The update makes it easier to go from that snapshot to a full back-and-forth conversation with AI mode.
Previously, if you wanted to turn your overview into a full conversation, you had to click on the AI Mode tab and start the search again. Now, you can stay within the flow of your search results and continue drilling down with minimal friction. In early testing, Google found that people naturally wanted to have these conversational search extensions, rather than hitting a wall after the first AI-generated response.
If the overview gives you a starting point, the conversation allows you to drill down into every detail without having to start a new search. You can then refine your question, ask about exceptions, or even incorporate tables and other visual elements within the same thread.
Conversational transitions
Gemini 3 makes both quick snapshots and deeper conversations more useful. Google hopes that if your exploration of a topic doesn’t end after the first answer, you can satisfy your curiosity without leaving its sandbox.
For most people, that means the digestible summary at the top can immediately turn into a deeper, more nuanced conversation without switching tabs, rewriting your question, or losing context. It is a search that remembers what you were asking and anticipates follow-ups.
Context matters here. The search has always been about quick answers to simple things like sports scores or the weather, but life’s big questions are often complex and nuanced. Knowing that “what to consider before buying a house” is not something that can be solved with a snippet makes Google’s conversational layer seem timely. The ability to track and maintain context means fewer redundant queries and fewer rethinks for more nuanced angles to your problem.
Of course, not all questions will be best resolved by conversation. Google’s effort to use the right model when appropriate, with the lighter models for quick responses and Gemini 3 for deeper queries, reflects this balancing act. And there is a question of precision. No matter how well AI models work, hallucinations arise, and well-crafted responses and dialogue aren’t very helpful if they’re completely wrong.
But a searching experience that’s less like searching for answers and more like having a fish dinner prepared based on a conversation with the chef will certainly appeal to those in a hurry, even if the fish is occasionally made of rubber.
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