Google is in the early days of testing a new behavior in Chrome that sends users directly to AI mode, bypassing the standard search experience.
seen by Windows reportGoogle is testing a new flag in Chrome that, when enabled, bypasses standard Google search and sends users directly to AI mode.
As Google describes it:
Complete search box queries in AI mode
Redirects all normal search box queries in the omnibox and realbox to threads in AI mode. – Mac, Windows, Linux, ChromeOS
The flag appears in the latest version of Chrome Canary on desktop platforms, but not on mobile devices. And, true to its description, the change sends users directly to AI mode from the Chrome Omnibox. Typing anything other than a URL will send users to AI Mode, which, after years of seeing standard Google Search there, is admittedly a bit jarring.
Here’s what it looks like in action.
That said, it seems like Google is simply testing this, rather than trying to change the behavior.
For one, this is not enabled by default. Users must manually go to chrome://flags and find and enable this behavior, and it is limited to the Canary release channel. But, as if that were not enough, a commit Google says explicitly:
This is just for exploration. There are no current plans to push this live.
Things can change, of course, but it looks like standard Google search in Chrome is safe, at least for now. Google Chrome is a enormous entry point for Search, and as AI increasingly becomes Google’s focus, it’s not hard to imagine a future where this “exploration” becomes a default behavior.
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