Google makes Search agentic

Google Search used to stop at the answer. Now Google is pushing it to do the errand too, starting with restaurant reservations that its artificial intelligence system can find and hand off for booking inside Search. (9to5google.com) The new example Google is showing is unusually specific: “Find a table for two at a dog-friendly Italian restaurant in Shoreditch for Saturday at 7 p.m.” The software is meant to turn that one sentence into a live search across listings, availability, and booking options. (9to5google.com) In India, Google said this is now rolling out inside AI Mode, the conversational version of Search, with restaurant discovery and reservations as the first local use case. Reports there say the feature can handle constraints like cuisine, neighborhood, party size, date, and time in one prompt. (republicworld.com) The India rollout is tied to local booking services, including EazyDiner and Zomato, which gives Google a way to check actual tables instead of just showing a list of restaurants. That is the difference between a search engine and something closer to a concierge. (deccanherald.com) Google has been building toward this for months. In an earlier product post, it said AI Mode uses live web browsing from Project Mariner, direct partner integrations, the Knowledge Graph, and Google Maps to do the legwork and send people to the final booking step. (blog.google) That stack matters because each piece solves a different part of the job. Live browsing checks what is happening right now, Google Maps knows places and hours, and the Knowledge Graph is Google’s giant database of entities and relationships, which helps the system understand that “dog-friendly Italian in Shoreditch” is a filter, not just a pile of words. (blog.google) Google is also changing the screen around this behavior. On mobile, AI Mode is moving from a pop-up menu to a bottom sheet that looks more like the Gemini app, which makes Search feel less like a results page and more like a chat workspace where you keep refining a task. (9to5google.com) This is not limited to one country anymore. 9to5Google reported on April 10 that restaurant booking in AI Mode is expanding internationally, with the feature rolling out in eight new countries beyond the United States. (9to5google.com; jetstream.blog) Google has been widening the funnel around AI Mode at the same time. Search Live, which lets people talk to Search with voice and camera input, expanded globally in late March to all languages and locations where AI Mode is offered, across more than 200 countries and regions. (blog.google) Put together, the pattern is clear in the product itself: one Google system hears the request, another understands the place, another checks the live web, and the Search box becomes the front door for getting something done. Search is still retrieving information, but Google is now redesigning it around completing the task that comes after the answer. (blog.google; 9to5google.com)