After US-only rollout, Google says Gemini-backed Search Live is headed to India

Google has announced that India will be the second nation, following the United States, to experience its cutting-edge Search Live functionality. This exciting feature, unveiled during the tech titan's I/O 2025 event in May, enables users to engage in dynamic, conversational interactions with Google's AI, allowing for seamless information retrieval from across the internet. Search Live transcends traditional voice-activated AI interactions, offering an innovative approach where users can utilize their smartphone cameras to obtain real-time answers by simply tapping on objects. This functionality mirrors the capabilities of the Gemini Live feature, but with the added advantage of sourcing answers directly from live web content. Currently unavailable in India, the rollout is on the horizon. Rajan Patel, VP of Engineering for Google Search, along with Hema Budaraji, VP of Product Management for Google Search, confirmed during a recent media briefing that Indian users can expect this feature soon. Google has elaborated that Search Live operates on a tailored version of its Gemini technology, enhanced with advanced voice capabilities. This custom model employs a query fan-out technique, which broadens the spectrum of content presented to users. Once launched in India, users will find the Search Live feature accessible through a new icon positioned beneath the search bar. Earlier this year, India was also the first to adopt Google's AI Mode feature, which provides a chatbot-like search experience akin to services like Perplexity and ChatGPT. During the media event, Google revealed that its AI Mode boasts over 100 million monthly users across the US and India, with Indian users frequently leveraging this feature for educational queries, recommendations, comparisons, writing assistance, and step-by-step guides. Additionally, Google teased an upcoming enhancement to AI Mode that would allow users to create interactive charts or graphs on demand, particularly useful for sports or stock market inquiries. However, this feature is presently limited to the US, with no confirmed timeline for its introduction in India or other international markets. Moreover, Google shared insights on AI Overviews, its automated summaries for search queries powered by Gemini. The company reports that AI Overviews now serves over 2 billion monthly users in 200 countries and 40 languages, reflecting a 10% increase in global queries utilizing this feature.