Google to Add AI Answers and File Uploads to U.S. Search Box

Google said Tuesday it will introduce AI-generated answers to online queries made by users in the United States. The change affects the single-line search box on the company's homepage. The updated box expands to accept longer queries and allows users to upload videos, pictures, and files. Google described the capability as multimodal search.

Liz Reid, who oversees search at Google, said the update brings the best of web and the best of AI together. The company has placed AI Overviews at the top of some search results for about a year. Reid noted that users have begun entering longer, more natural-language questions.

She said this shift allows Google to better understand user intentions, including transitions from research to purchase.

Google is also adding agentic functionality that lets users request recurring tasks such as checking theater ticket prices or receiving sale notifications. Carolina Milanesi, an independent technology analyst, said the changes aim to make search richer and more personalized.

Milanesi said users may have fewer choices about which sources or products appear. Sarah T. Roberts, director of the Center for Critical Internet Inquiry at UCLA, said adding AI will make the algorithmic system more opaque. Google is a financial supporter of NPR.