Google turns on search autopilot | Generative ai use cases | | Generative ai google certification | Turtles AI

Google expands its "AI Mode" to 180 new English-speaking countries, adding agentic features like restaurant reservations for Ultra subscribers. It adds personalized options and sharing tools, but hasn’t yet reached any definitive conclusions.

Key Points:

• Global expansion to 180 English-speaking countries/territories
• Agentic restaurant reservations for Ultra users via Labs
• Personalization for US users based on history and preferences
• New AI Mode interaction sharing feature

Imagine a silent wave sweeping the search universe: Google has decided to transform your browser not only into an intelligent encyclopedia, but also into an invisible concierge working under the hood. Starting today, "AI Mode" is no longer a privilege reserved for the United States, the United Kingdom, and India: it’s arriving in 180 new countries and territories, providing access to its conversational style, currently only in English and without utopian fantasies, but with the promise of expanding to other languages ​​and regions.

But it’s not just a question of geographic coverage: it’s a paradigm shift. With the new agentic version, AI doesn’t just suggest a restaurant, it searches for it, checks availability, offers the best list, and guides you toward the final click to book. Naturally, behind it all is a chain of partners—OpenTable, Resy, Tock, Ticketmaster, StubHub, SeatGeek, Booksy, and others—and technologies like Project Mariner, Knowledge Graph, and Google Maps orchestrate it all.

Access to this "active" feature is available, at least for now, to those subscribed to Google AI’s Ultra plan (about $249.99 per month) and who have activated the "Agentic capabilities in AI Mode" experiment in the US Labs. Those who have paid for this digital luxury can ask AI for "a table for four, Friday night, Italian cuisine, maybe al fresco" and instantly receive a selection of options that can be booked immediately.

Meanwhile, US users who have agreed to participate in that experiment get something even more intriguing: a search that is no longer neutral, but unabashedly personalized. AI delves into your history—those you’ve searched for or clicked on in Search and Maps, the conversations you’ve had with it—and suggests options that seem designed specifically for you: ask for a quick lunch and receive an Italian bistro with outdoor seating, because "that’s how you like it."

Add a collaborative touch: Have you ever tried sending a search result to a friend as if it were a message from a personal assistant? Now you can do it with a simple "Share" button: share a conversation with AI Mode—an itinerary, a list of venues, a selection of concerts—and whoever receives the link can continue the conversation where you left off. Google keeps track of the status, and you can even delete the link whenever you like.

In short, no triumphal proclamations, but Google is pushing AI Mode beyond the realm of consultation: from an interactive encyclopedia to an automaton that acts, personalizes, and socializes. A controlled, sophisticated, and finely calibrated evolution, technical and useful, but without apocalyptic transformations. In the end, search is no longer passive: now it has legs, and comfortable shoes too.

A search engine that talks to you, books for you, and accompanies you: almost human, but without the drama of technological philosophy.