Google overhauls its search box, letting users ask longer queries, upload photos and videos, and use Gemini 3.5 Flash-powered agents to automate searches
The era of the “ten blue links” is officially over.Michael Nuñez /VentureBeat:Google just redesigned the search box for the first time in 25 years — here's why it matters more than you think.Elyse Betters Picaro /ZDNET:Google's new AI Search box is here - along with agents and 5 more upgradesEmma Roth /The Verge:Google is launching its own version of OpenClawJennifer Elias /CNBC:Google debuts new AI models, personal AI agents in effort to keep pace with OpenAI and AnthropicJay Bonggolto /Android
Context & Ripple Effects
Google’s search changes extend an arc visible in related coverage: plans to make Search more visual and conversational, followed by testing and then rolling out an AI Mode for open-ended, multi-part questions.
The addition of photo/video input and Gemini-powered agents moves that arc beyond AI-generated responses toward a search interface that can accept richer context and carry out parts of the search process.
First-order effects
- Google users can submit longer, multimodal queries through the redesigned search box rather than relying chiefly on short text keywords.
- Google ties its Gemini 3.5 Flash model directly to Search through personal agents that automate searches, making Gemini a product-facing part of the core search experience.
Second-order effects
- Search rivals and AI assistants, including the OpenAI competitor named in the coverage, face pressure to match a unified interface for conversational, multimodal, and agent-assisted queries.
- A search journey can become more concentrated inside Google’s interface: users may move from entering a query to receiving an automated result flow without separately assembling sources or steps.
Third-order effects
- If Google continues embedding agents into Search, the competitive unit may shift from ranking pages for a query to completing a user’s multi-step intent within an AI-mediated workflow.
- The transition from keyword retrieval to agentic search would make the design of source selection, attribution, and user control increasingly central to how search platforms differentiate.
The trend: This is a data point in the conversion of web search from a keyword-and-results interface into a multimodal AI assistant that can reason over a request and execute parts of the task.