By Lisa Eadicicco, CNN
(CNN) — To get ahead in the new internet age, Google wants to help you google less.
The company on Tuesday revealed a flurry of AI-powered features for its search engine, AI assistant Gemini and other services. It’s part of Google’s latest effort to revamp its decades-old business model to fit the era of artificial intelligence.
Among those updates is a new version of the search bar that can crawl the web on a user’s behalf and a new mode in Gemini that can work autonomously over periods of time.
The changes bring Google’s search engine closer to the likes of its biggest competitors today: Anthropic and OpenAI, whose sophisticated AI models have taken over some of the duties of search tools and web browsers.
Revamped search
Google for years has been moving away from delivering a list of blue links in response to search queries. But the refreshed search engine, which runs on the company’s new Gemini 3.5 Flash model, represents what may be its biggest shift yet toward AI and away from traditional search.
The new search field expands to accommodate longer queries that are more conversational, aligning with the way one might type or talk into Gemini or ChatGPT.
Users will be able to create “agents” in Google’s search engine that can track or research topics on their own. Google says it’s useful for tasks that require tracking and monitoring announcements and listings over time, like apartment hunting or new apparel releases. One can, for example, enter a query like “Keep me updated when any of my favorite athletes announce sneaker collabs or signature drops” to prompt Google to monitor announcements from notable athletes and brands, the company cited as an example in a press release.
Google will also now generate custom visuals and mini apps in response to certain requests, such as creating a fitness tracker that incorporates a person’s location, weather data and apps connected to their Google account.
A new Spark
Since it launched the AI-powered Gemini, Google has struggled to differentiate the assistant from its main search engine. Spark, a new mode within Gemini that can work on tasks in the background, is its latest attempt to change that. Spark will be able to work on recurring long-term tasks like monitoring credit card statements and email inboxes for important updates and creating summaries or to-do lists.
It can also reference content across certain apps, like compiling notes from Google Docs, Gmail and Slides, and the company says more third-party apps will be supported in the future.
The company is also adding Spark to the Gemini app on Mac computers so that it can work with local files, and users will be able to monitor what their agent from their phones through a new feature called Android Halo. The agent will stay active even when the person’s laptop is closed or their phone is locked, Google says.
The focus on autonomous features seems like a direct response to OpenClaw, the buzzy AI agent that made waves in Silicon Valley earlier this year for its ability to run programs and commands without constant prompting from the user.
Building AGI
Google has been pursuing AI agents for years, although use cases have mostly focused on specific tasks like shopping or email management and haven’t