Google wants you to chat with ads now: AI Mode gets conversational ads and highlighted answers

The era of an ad-free AI experience in Google Search is coming to an end. During its I/O 2026 conference on Wednesday, the tech giant announced that it is using Gemini to inject dynamic AI-generated ad formats directly into AI Mode alongside the traditional search experience.

“As the Search experience becomes smarter and more conversational, we’re using Gemini models to experiment with new ad experiences designed to provide engaging, helpful answers that connect people with businesses.” Google said in a blog post.

Also Read | Google Search enters ‘agentic era’ with Gemini 3.5 Flash

Ads are coming to AI Mode:

Google says its study found that 75% of people report making faster, more confident decisions using AI Mode. To leverage this, Google says it is testing two new types of ad formats built with Gemini. The company says the new ad experiences are designed to help users make decisions faster while maintaining transparency through clear “Sponsored” labels.

Conversational ads in AI Mode:

Rather than displaying a generic sponsored placement, these new ads will answer specific user queries using Gemini-generated responses. Google gave the example that if a user asks a question like low-maintenance ways to make a house smell like a high-end spa, Gemini will build a creative tailored to that search while also highlighting specific features relevant to the user’s query.

Highlighted Answers:

When AI Mode generates a list of recommendations, it will also include ‘highly relevant, high-quality ads’ as part of that list as a ‘Highlighted Answer’.

Also Read | Google I/O 2026 Highlights: Sundar Pichai launches Gemini 3.5 Flash

AI-powered ads are also coming to Google Search:

Google’s AI-powered advertising push is not limited to AI Mode. In fact, the company is also rolling out two new agentic ad formats to standard Google Search in the coming months.

AI-powered shopping ads

For larger purchases such as televisions or refrigerators, Gemini will soon begin surfacing products and automatically generate explainers describing why a particular item could suit a user’s needs.

“If someone searches for an espresso machine, Gemini will pull up your most relevant products and instantly write a custom explainer highlighting why your product may be the right choice for them.” Google explained.

Business agent:

Google is also taking full advantage of agentic AI and adding a ‘Business Agent for Leads’ directly inside the search experience. Google gave the example of students researching universities, where users could ask questions and receive instant responses via a chat agent, “turning a practical interaction into a valuable lead.”

Google is overhauling Search:

Google is making some of the biggest changes to Search in decades, which it announced during its I/O 2026 keynote. The company added AI Mode in Google Search last year and is now adding its Gemini 3.5 Flash model to the experience, along with a new customized search box that expands dynamically to take longer queries.

Users can also now give multimodal inputs to Search including text, images, files, videos and even directly upload Chrome tabs.

Google also announced that it is taking advantage of Antigravity 2.0 to allow Search to generate visuals, diagrams and dashboards in response to search queries.

The company is also adding a 24/7 autonomous monitoring agent inside Search that can track blogs, news websites, and real-time finance or sports data to keep users updated around the clock.