The year 2025 marked a fundamental shift for Google Search, transforming it from a simple information retrieval tool into a comprehensive intelligence product powered by artificial intelligence. This evolution was driven by the need to help users better understand the world and take action, moving beyond basic queries to handle complex, longer questions and multimodal searches. India emerged as a critical testing ground and leading adopter for many of these groundbreaking features.
India at the Forefront of the Search Revolution
Google highlighted a significant change in user behavior, noting that roughly 15% of all daily searches worldwide are now entirely new, pointing to greater user curiosity. A key driver of this change is the surge in visual searches, which increased by 70% globally year-over-year. India is leading this adoption, using Google Lens more monthly than any other country in the world. The company launched seven significant updates in 2025, with India being among the first countries globally to receive features like AI Mode and Search Live.
The Seven Key Features That Redefined Search in India
AI Mode with Gemini 3: India had the distinction of being the first country outside the United States to get AI Mode, Google's most advanced AI-powered Search experience. Supporting eight Indian languages, it became a popular tool for learning, comparisons, writing, and step-by-step assistance. In 2025, it was upgraded with Gemini 3, which introduced advanced reasoning, superior multimodal understanding, and richer generative interactions. The Gemini 3 Pro model is available in English for Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers via the "Thinking" option in the AI Mode menu.
Nano Banana Pro: This new image generation and editing model, built on Gemini 3 Pro, blends creative reasoning with Search knowledge. It helps users visualize concepts like product prototypes and infographics. Indian subscribers can access it using the "Create Images Pro" tool within AI Mode.
Virtual Apparel Try On: This feature revolutionized online shopping by offering a personalized experience. It allows users to digitally try on clothing across billions of product listings. By using a photo, shoppers can preview how different fabrics drape and stretch on their specific body shape directly within Google Search, Google Shopping, and product listings on Google Images.
Lens in AI Mode: Evolving beyond simple object identification, this enhanced tool now analyzes full scenes and understands the relationships between objects within them.
Circle to Search in AI Mode: This functionality lets users circle anything on their screen and ask advanced follow-up questions without needing to switch between different apps.
Search Live in AI Mode: Providing real-time, interactive help through the camera, this tool is available to users in both English and Hindi.
Flight Deals: Travel planning became more intuitive as this feature interprets natural-language requests. It uses Google Flights data to find matching destinations and itineraries based on the user's conversational input.
A New Era of Intelligent Assistance
The collective impact of these seven updates signifies Google Search's transition into a proactive, multimodal assistant. By integrating advanced AI like Gemini 3, the platform is now equipped to handle nuanced queries, provide creative visualization tools, and deliver highly contextual and personalized results. For Indian users, who are at the forefront of adopting visual and complex searches, these changes mean a more helpful, intuitive, and powerful gateway to information and action in the digital age.
