Google Wants Search To Stop Answering And Start Acting

InnovationAIGoogle Wants Search To Stop Answering And Start ActingByRon Schmelzer,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Ron Schmelzer covers AI and data best practices at Forbes since 2018Follow AuthorMay 20, 2026, 02:39pm EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.Close-up of a person's hand holding an iPhone and using Google AI Mode, an experimental mode utilizing artificial intelligence and large language models to process Google search queries, Lafayette, California, March 24, 2025. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)Gado via Getty ImagesAt Google I/O 2026, Google moved AI agents and advanced model capabilities into search by letting users call on agents “just by asking a question.” It called the new AI-powered Search box the biggest upgrade to Search in more than 25 years. Search is the reason for Google’s creation, but the company has always said that its business purpose is to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” In the era of agentic AI, this means that it’s about doing more than searching.As part of its announcement, Google also introduced Gemini 3.5 Flash and previewed Gemini 3.5 Pro, with expanded agent tooling for developers, and pushed new enterprise workflows around Gemini and its agent platform. Taken as a whole, the new model announcement is less important than the shift in Google’s central vision of search in its platform.Search As Intent Instead Of OutputWe usually think of search not as the thing we’re asking for, but the results we get. For almost three decades, the results have meant a list of websites that might be relevant, sorted in an order prioritized by advertising and optimized through appropriately-called Search Engine Optimization. But this is all changing. Search has always been Google’s tollbooth for intent. A user wants a flight, a product, a restaurant,...