AI Mode hits ~1 billion monthly users after a year; usage data reveals long‑term patterns

Google said on May 20 that AI Mode, its conversational search product, has surpassed 1 billion monthly active users globally after one year in market. The company also said AI Mode queries have more than doubled every quarter since launch, offering one of the first official looks at how people are using the product at scale. In a separate announcement at Google Marketing Live, Google said it is adding new AI tools to Asset Studio so advertisers can create, test and deploy creative assets across Google and YouTube. The two updates put new numbers around both sides of Google’s AI push: how people search and how marketers are expected to respond. ### How is Google saying search behavior has changed after a year of AI Mode? Google said on May 19 that the average AI Mode search is about three times longer than a traditional search. The company said both short and long queries are increasing, but users are also asking more fully formed questions and using follow-ups more often inside the product. (blog.google) U.S. usage data showed follow-up queries in AI Mode rose more than 40% month over month, according to Google’s search blog post. Search Engine Journal, citing Google’s report released alongside I/O 2026, said the company also described more voice, image and other multimodal behavior inside AI Mode. ### Where did the 1 billion figure come from? (blog.google) Sundar Pichai gave the number during Google I/O 2026, calling AI Mode “our biggest upgrade to Search ever.” In a separate Google post about AI Mode usage, the company said the product had passed 1 billion monthly active users globally one year after its U.S. launch. NPR reported on May 22 that Google is making visible changes to its search homepage as it pushes AI features more directly into the core search experience. (blog.google) Mashable, citing Google’s I/O announcements, also reported that AI Mode had surpassed 1 billion monthly users. ### What is Google adding to Asset Studio for advertisers? Google said on May 20 that Asset Studio is getting new multimodal creative tools inside Google Ads. (blog.google) The company said advertisers will be able to generate and refine images and video, test creative variations and manage assets in one place for campaigns running across Google and YouTube. Asset Studio now includes Gemini-powered generation tools and video workflows, according to Google’s product post and Google Ads Help documentation. (npr.org) Search Engine Land reported that the update adds multimodal asset generation, video creation and creative testing features. ### When do the new ad tools arrive, and for whom? Google said the new Asset Studio capabilities are planned for a global English rollout this summer. (blog.google) The company framed the changes as part of its broader Google Marketing Live 2026 push to give advertisers AI tools that connect creative production, measurement and campaign execution more tightly across its ad products. Google Marketing Live materials published this week also tied the Asset Studio update to other ad products, including YouTube and Google Ads workflows. That places the rollout in the same product cycle as Google’s new AI search and shopping announcements from May 19 and May 20. ### What does this mean for marketers trying to track demand? CMSWire reported on May 22 that a year of AI Mode data points to longer, more conversational and more multimodal search behavior, which can complicate how marketers interpret discovery paths. (blog.google) That is an analysis by CMSWire, not a statement from Google, but it tracks with Google’s own data showing longer queries and more follow-up behavior. (blog.google) Google’s own announcements did not make claims about attribution, but the combination of conversational search and more automated creative workflows gives marketers fewer clean signals from a single click or keyword. For teams that rely on CRM and campaign data, that makes preserved campaign IDs, source fields and form metadata more important as Google expands AI Mode and rolls out Asset Studio’s new tools this summer. That final point is an inference from Google’s product changes and CMSWire’s reporting. (cmswire.com)