Google’s AI search strategy is moving from experiment to scale. The company says AI Overviews, its AI-summarized results feature in Google Search, is now used by more than 1.5 billion users monthly across over 100 countries.
That growth is not happening in isolation. Google is also building out AI Mode, Circle to Search and Google Lens, while placing AI more directly inside the search experience that users already know.
AI Overviews is becoming a central search feature
Google started testing AI-summarized results in Google Search, called AI Overviews, two years ago. Since then, it has continued to expand the feature to new regions and languages.
The basic idea is simple: for certain questions, Google Search can generate a summarized answer using results from around the web. A query such as “What is generative AI?” can produce AI-generated text at the top of the search results page.
That placement matters. Instead of beginning with a list of links, users may first see a synthesized response. For Google, this makes AI Overviews a direct part of how Search answers questions, not a separate product sitting outside the main search page.
Google views the feature as a success by its own measurement. The reported reach of more than 1.5 billion users monthly across over 100 countries shows that AI Overviews has moved beyond a limited test and into a broad consumer rollout.
Google is tying AI search to engagement and revenue
The source notes that AI Overviews has dampened traffic to some publishers. That is one of the central tensions around AI search: if users get more complete answers on the results page, they may have less reason to click through to websites.
At the same time, Google sees AI-powered search capabilities as potentially meaningful revenue drivers and as ways to boost engagement on Search. In that framing, AI is not only a new answer format. It is also part of Google’s search business strategy.
Last October, Google launched ads in AI Overviews. That move connected the AI-generated answer area with the advertising model that already supports much of the search experience.
More recently, Google started testing AI Mode. The feature lets users ask complex questions and follow-ups within the flow of Google Search. According to the source, AI Mode is Google’s attempt to take on chat-based search interfaces like ChatGPT search and Perplexity.
Together, AI Overviews and AI Mode point to a broader shift in the product. Google Search is being shaped to handle not only short queries, but also more conversational and multi-step searches.
Circle to Search and Lens show AI expanding beyond typed queries
During its Q1 2025 earnings call on Thursday, Google also highlighted the growth of other AI-based search products, including Circle to Search.
Circle to Search lets users highlight something on a smartphone screen and ask questions about it. Google said the feature is now available on more than 250 million devices, up from around 200 million devices as of late last year.
The company also said Circle to Search usage rose close to 40% quarter-over-quarter. That suggests Google is not only increasing device availability, but also seeing more use of the feature.
Visual search is also growing. CEO Sundar Pichai said searches through Google Lens, Google’s multimodal AI-powered search technology, have increased by 5 billion since October. The number of people shopping on Lens was up over 10% in Q1.
These products widen what search can mean inside Google’s ecosystem. A user may type a question, circle something on a screen, or search with a visual input through Lens. In each case, Google is using AI to reduce the gap between what the user sees or asks and the answer they receive.
The growth arrives during regulatory pressure
Google’s AI search expansion is taking place while the company faces intense regulatory scrutiny of its search practices.
The U.S. Department of Justice has been pressuring Google to spin off Chrome after a court found that the tech giant had an illegal online search monopoly. A federal judge has also ruled that Google has an adtech monopoly, opening the door to a potential breakup.
That context makes Google’s AI search growth especially important. The company is adding new AI layers to Search, introducing ads in AI Overviews, testing AI Mode and expanding visual and screen-based search features while regulators are already focused on its search and adtech power.
The result is a complicated moment for Google Search. Its AI products are reaching large numbers of users, and the company is positioning them as tools for engagement and revenue. But the same search business that gives those tools scale is also under legal and regulatory pressure.
What the numbers show
The figures Google shared point to a search product changing across several fronts at once:
- AI Overviews is now used by more than 1.5 billion users monthly across over 100 countries.
- Circle to Search is available on more than 250 million devices.
- Circle to Search usage rose close to 40% quarter-over-quarter.
- Google Lens searches have increased by 5 billion since October.
- The number of people shopping on Lens was up over 10% in Q1.
Those numbers do not describe a single feature launch. They describe Google’s wider effort to make AI a routine part of Search, whether the user is asking a question, following up in AI Mode, highlighting content on a phone screen or searching visually through Lens.