Google Search AI Mode Can Help You Make Dinner Reservations

Google launched AI Mode as an experiment in Google Search earlier this year in the U.S., bringinga ChatGPT-like experienceto its flagship product. Google then made AI Mode available to all Google Search users in the U.S., U.K., and India, plusexpanded the capabilities of this AI-centric search feature. On Thursday, GoogleannouncedThat AI Mode is going global, making the feature available to over 180 countries.

Also, Google announced new features for AI Mode that will make the experience even more useful. AI Mode can help you make dinner reservations, but this agentic AI capability will be available only in the U.S. at first.

Unlikethe more controversial AI Overviews featureIn Google Search, AI Mode can be more helpful, allowing users to have conversations with Gemini without going to the Gemini app. All you have to do is tap the AI Mode tab in Google Search and start chatting with the AI. This is a more intentional use of AI inside Google Search than AI Overviews, which appear at the top of search results regardless of whether you want AI summaries or not.

The AI Mode experience will be rolled out to more than 180 new countries and territories, but it will be available in English initially. More languages will be available in the future. Google also said it will expand the feature to more regions, likely meaning the European Union, which is not part of this wider rollout.

Read more:How To Remove Yourself From Google Results And Any Other Websites

How To Make Dinner Reservations With AI Mode

International users will not be able to take advantage of the first agentic features in AI Mode. Google has integrated some of the capabilities of Project Mariner, an AI agent introduced earlier this year, into the AI Mode experience to bring more complex functionality to AI Mode, such as helping users make restaurant reservations. The feature will be limited to Google AI Ultra subscribers in the U.S., the Gemini tier that costs $250/month, as an "Agentic capabilities in AI Mode" Labs experiment.

AI Mode will assist with dinner reservations by performing all the online searches you would do in Google Search. The feature allows you to input the desired conditions, such as party size, date and time, location, and type of restaurant. Once you have determined the details, AI Mode will search for the places that best match your requirements. It will then show a list of restaurants that have availability for your date and time, and it will take you to the booking page. AI Mode does not complete the reservation for you. That is the final step of the process, where the human will be in control of choosing the time and actually making the reservation, as shown below.

Google explainedin a blog postthat the new AI Mode reservation capability relies on multiple Google products, includingProject Mariner, the Knowledge Graph, and Google Maps. Partners including OpenTable, Resy, Tock, Ticketmaster, StubHub, SeatGeek, and Booksy are also mentioned. Google wants AI Mode to also help with local service appointments and buying tickets online in the future. The restaurant booking tool is the first test.

Personalized Experiences and Sharing AI Mode Chats With Friends

Google also said that it's looking to offer more personalized experiences to AI Mode users, like surfacing places to eat that are based on the user's preferences. For the feature to work, you'll have to let AI Mode remember your past conversations. Google offers an example of a complex search you might make with AI Mode which could benefit from that past information: "I only have an hour, need a quick lunch spot, any suggestions?"

To answer this prompt, AI Mode will look at your past chats in Google Search and the places you've searched for in Google Search and Google Maps. It'll then deliver a response that includes results tailored to the user's preferences. Like the previous feature, this is only an experiment in Labs available to U.S. AI Mode users.

Finally, AI Mode received a new sharing feature that is similar to what you can do in ChatGPT and Gemini with chats you want friends and family to see. The new "Share" button in AI Mode will allow you to share a specific chat with your contacts. What's interesting about this feature is that friends and family can then continue the chat with Gemini in AI Mode where you left off. They can ask follow-up questions on the same topic instead of just reading the text and clicking the links that AI Mode makes available. The "Share" button, located at the bottom of an AI Mode reply, will initially be available only to U.S. users.

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