Google search box is now Google AI box
Google overhauled its search bar to accept longer, conversational queries and introduced agents that monitor topics over time without repeated prompts. The company also shipped Spark, a background mode in Gemini that can track credit card statements and email inboxes while your phone is locked.
Key takeaways
- Google's redesigned search bar accepts longer, conversational queries and creates agents that monitor topics like apartment listings or product releases autonomously.
- Spark, a new Gemini mode, runs recurring background tasks such as credit card statement monitoring and email inbox summarization even when devices are locked.
- Anthropic commands 34.4% of U.S. paid AI business subscriptions versus Google's 4.5%, according to Ramp data from 50,000 businesses.
- Google spent $180 to $190 billion this year on AI infrastructure and chips, per CEO Sundar Pichai.
- The updates position Google search closer to Anthropic and OpenAI's autonomous agent capabilities, particularly in response to OpenClaw's industry buzz.
The search bar now expands for conversational queries
Google's search field now stretches to fit longer, conversational prompts. The company expects users to type or speak questions similar to how they would address Gemini or ChatGPT, rather than the terse keyword strings that dominated the past two decades of search.
Users can spin up agents inside search that track topics without repeated manual queries. Google cited apartment hunting and sneaker releases as use cases: "Keep me updated when any of my favorite athletes announce sneaker collabs or signature drops" triggers an agent that monitors athlete and brand announcements over time. The search engine will also generate mini apps and custom visuals, such as a fitness tracker that pulls location, weather data, and connected apps from a user's Google account.
Spark runs recurring tasks while your laptop is closed
Spark is a new mode within Gemini that works on background tasks autonomously. It can monitor credit card statements and inboxes, compile summaries or to-do lists, and reference content across Google Docs, Gmail, and Slides. Google says third-party app support is coming.
The feature ships to Mac computers so it can access local files. A new Android Halo feature lets users monitor their agent from a phone while the laptop is closed or the phone is locked. Tulsee Doshi, senior director of product management at Google DeepMind, told CNN that past AI agents fell into an "uncanny valley where the models aren't yet good enough, so you can't trust them fully."
The DeepMind advantage and the Anthropic problem
Google spent $180 to $190 billion this year on AI infrastructure and chips, according to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai. Gemini has 900 million active users. But in paid business subscriptions, Anthropic held 34.4% of the U.S. market in April while OpenAI took 32.3% and Google managed just 4.5%, per finance platform Ramp, which analyzed contract and transaction data from more than 50,000 American businesses.
Dave McCarthy, an analyst at International Data Corporation, called DeepMind Google's "secret weapon" because most competitors lack both a research lab and direct access to cloud systems and a consumer distribution channel. Varun Mohan, a director at Google DeepMind working on the Antigravity coding product, said the team ships a new release "close to every day" for internal developers.
The response to OpenClaw
The autonomous features appear to answer OpenClaw, the AI agent that drew attention in Silicon Valley earlier this year for running programs without constant user prompting. Google has pursued agents for years but struggled with reliability. Koray Kavukcuoglu, DeepMind's chief technology officer and Google's chief AI architect, told CNN that current models "are a little bit static in time" but need to update their own intelligence before artificial general intelligence becomes feasible.