Google Search adds new features to its AI Mode with video input, Canvas tool & PDF support

Google is rolling out four major updates to its recently introduced AI Mode in Google Search, including real-time video input via Search Live, a Canvas planning tool, support for image and PDF uploads, and deeper integration with Google Lens on desktop. First introduced in March, the new AI Mode is an alternative to traditional search results and AI Overviews, offering a chatbot-like interface similar to Google Gemini that supports full conversational answers, multi-part prompts and image inputs, allowing follow-up interactions that go beyond a single search.

With the new updates, users will now be able to upload PDFs on the web, joining existing image upload support on mobile, to ask detailed, context-aware questions based on their own documents. Canvas lets users create and update structured plans like study guides or travel itineraries in a persistent side panel, which can incorporate uploaded content such as class notes or syllabi. Both features will be available in the coming weeks to desktop users in the U.S. enrolled in the AI Mode Labs experiment.

Search Live also adds a new “Live” tab to the Google Lens app on Android and iOS, enabling real-time video input so users can show the AI what they're seeing. On desktop, AI Mode is being integrated into Google Chrome via Google Lens, where an “Ask Google about this page” option in the address bar opens an AI Overview panel, with a new “Dive deeper” button to continue the session in full AI Mode. The company is also expanding AI Mode to users in the UK.