Fact Checked by 
A recently discovered unreleased code could suggest Google search may look a lot different on Android devices due to AI as a voice mode is spotted.
The publisher 9to5 Google reports the search giant is “readying some sort of ‘AI Mode’ for the Search app on Android that appears to be a new conversational and visual (or multimodal) experience.”
The reporter writes that Google has been working on this potential new model since October for the app on Android. This has come from the team looking into the APKs which has unveiled various lines of code that hint at possible future features.
Within the code, they can see there could be a microphone button which will allow for voice input, while you can also take a picture or add an existing one.
You could soon be able to ‘ask a follow up’ question and interrupt Google’s responses too if the report is correct.
Currently, Google does include a microphone icon next to the search icon but it has long been hailed as fairly elementary. When enabled, users can say their question or search out loud and it will transcribe this query and bring up a relevant result page.
Google unreleased code shows a wink emoticon next to topic of AI Mode
The reporter says this week’s Google app beta “suggests you might possibly access it as a dedicated tab.”
Interestingly, when looking into the search engine app’s code, a wink emoticon appears next to a string name that includes ‘AI Mode.’
Due to these findings, it’s now being suggested that an AI-focused mode will allow people to get their answers in a whole different way – through conversation rather than typing.
While the lines of code may never come to fruition, the company is already running similar visual capabilities within Google Lens.
This tool was first announced at a conference in May of 2017, before it began rolling out in October of the same year. It’s an image recognition technology that lets people search for what they see using their camera or a photograph they’ve already taken.
Featured Image: AI-generated via Ideogram
