Chrome could decide whether your next search opens AI Mode or regular results

The unfinished feature would choose a search experience based on your model, tools and attachments.

Chrome logo displayed on a smartphone resting on a red notebook
Illustrative stock photograph. Photo: Deepanker Verma / Pexels.

I spotted a Chromium change that could let Chrome’s AI-powered search box send you to regular Google results instead of AI Mode. You wouldn’t have to start an AI conversation for every query you enter in that box.

Chromium is the open-source project used to develop Chrome. Google calls the feature DynamicAimFulfillment. The proposed change covers both the New Tab page and the search popup that opens from Chrome’s address bar.

Google screenshot of the Chrome New Tab page with an AI Mode button beside the search field
Chrome's existing New Tab page in Google's April illustration. The proposed routing feature is still in development. Image: Google

The code looks at the model and tool you select, what you attach, and settings from Chrome or Google’s servers. Under these rules, a plain query can stay on regular Search, while choosing an AI model sends it to AI Mode.

Browser tabs and Google Drive files require AI Mode under the proposed rules, but a single image can use regular results if the settings allow it. If Chrome hasn’t received Google’s configuration, the rules default to AI Mode.

Chrome would keep you in AI Mode until you clear the box

I also noticed that Chrome would remember the switch while you finish composing your query. Remove the attachment, tool or model that triggered AI Mode, and the box would still use AI Mode.

Google’s engineers describe it as “AI Mode stays on once entered.” Choosing a model through the AI Mode button also keeps it on. Clearing or closing the box would reset it.

Google illustration of an existing AI Mode conversation beside a shopping webpage in Chrome
Google's April illustration of the existing AI Mode experience beside a webpage. Image: Google

Chrome already has ways to bring webpages into AI conversations, including a separate tab-sharing option being tested in Canary. This proposal would change where your search goes when you submit it.

Google still needs to connect these rules to submitted searches

The patch doesn’t change where your submitted query goes yet. Searches from the Composebox, Google’s name for this AI-powered search box, still open AI Mode. The actual redirect needs a follow-up change, and the feature switches are off by default.

In June, Google removed an earlier experiment that redirected ordinary searches to AI Mode, saying it had no plans to release that test. This proposal would make the choice depend on the tools and inputs you use.

Source: Chromium

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