Google’s Search Engine Undergoes Major Transformation in 2025
A New Era of Search
In 2025, Google’s search engine is set to undergo the biggest upheaval in its history. The company’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, announced in December 2024 that the search engine will soon be able to answer more complex questions, thanks to artificial intelligence.
From Search to Intelligent Assistant
At the company’s results presentation, Pichai confirmed the major transformation of the search engine, with the goal of gradually turning it into an intelligent assistant. The aim is to improve the user experience, answer increasingly complex queries, and establish itself as an alternative to ChatGPT and other conversational AI agents.
The Search Experience Evolves
The search experience will be more intuitive, with answers more refined than a simple string of web addresses. A first step has already been taken with the integration of AI Overview, an experimental feature that generates AI-generated summaries in response to user queries. Initially launched in the US in May 2024, it has since been extended to over 100 countries.
Astra and Gemini Deep Research
Astra, still in the testing phase, is a Google DeepMind project that is an intelligent agent capable of processing multimodal inputs (text, audio, photo, and video) to provide perfectly contextualized responses. Additionally, Gemini Deep Research, an advanced feature of Google’s AI assistant currently reserved for Advanced subscribers only, could one day be extended to the search engine. This feature is dedicated to deep research, with the ability to scan up to several hundred websites to gather up-to-date information and generate comprehensive, in-depth analyses.
Competition Heats Up
News of these developments comes at a time of heightened competition, with the development of increasingly successful alternative search engines such as Perplexity. ChatGPT and other conversational AI agents have also launched new functionalities for online search, making them alternatives to the famous search engine. Microsoft has also enhanced Bing by integrating its Copilot intelligent agent, in partnership with OpenAI.
Compliance with the Digital Markets Act
In addition, Google’s search engine must comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the European regulation that aims to curb the power of large online platforms and promote fair competition in the digital marketplace.
FAQs
- What is the goal of Google’s search engine transformation?
The goal is to improve the user experience, answer increasingly complex queries, and establish itself as an alternative to ChatGPT and other conversational AI agents. - What is AI Overview?
AI Overview is an experimental feature that generates AI-generated summaries in response to user queries, initially launched in the US in May 2024 and extended to over 100 countries. - What is Astra?
Astra is a Google DeepMind project that is an intelligent agent capable of processing multimodal inputs (text, audio, photo, and video) to provide perfectly contextualized responses. - What is Gemini Deep Research?
Gemini Deep Research is an advanced feature of Google’s AI assistant currently reserved for Advanced subscribers only, dedicated to deep research and capable of scanning up to several hundred websites to gather up-to-date information and generate comprehensive, in-depth analyses.