AI Mode
Also called Google AI Mode
Google Search's chat-style mode: you ask longer questions, get a written answer with links and ask follow-ups, like a chatbot that searches.
AI Overviews add an answer above ordinary results. AI Mode replaces the results page with a conversation. You type or speak a long, specific question; behind the scenes it runs many searches at once, reads the pages and writes one answer with links, and you keep asking from there.
It suits questions with several parts, the kind that used to mean opening a dozen tabs. It's weaker when you need a particular source, the latest news or a site Google doesn't favour.
The bigger change is where it's heading. Google is turning Search into an assistant that knows your email and calendar if you let it, and that can act for you. The same questions apply as with any chatbot: where did this answer come from, and what does it know about me?
For example
"Quiet three-bedroom areas within 40 minutes of Leeds by train, with good primary schools" gets a comparison, not 10 blue links.
Put it to use
Where you'll meet AI Mode in ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude, how to use it there, and the mix-up most people make.
Daily Bytes Plus is in the Android app.