Google is rolling out its AI-powered conversational search feature, Search Live, in India, offering support in English and Hindi. The tech giant is also expanding AI Mode to seven additional Indian languages as part of its broader push to strengthen its AI presence in one of its fastest-growing markets.
First introduced in the U.S. in July, Search Live builds on Google’s Project Astra technology and is available through the company’s AI Mode. The feature lets users point their phone cameras at objects to get real-time, conversational assistance, using the visual context captured from the camera feed.
With this launch, India becomes the second country after the U.S. to get Search Live, a strategic move considering India’s massive base of early AI adopters who have helped Google scale products like Gemini’s Nano Banana model. Google says India’s diverse user base will help train its systems with richer visual data, improving Search Live’s capabilities over time.
“People in India are power users of multimodal search, forming our largest user base for both voice and visual search globally,” said Hema Budaraja, Vice President of Product Management for Search at Google.
Search Live begins rolling out to users in India today and will reach more people in the coming weeks. It can be accessed by tapping the “Live” icon under the search bar in the Google app or by opening Lens and selecting “Live” from the menu.
Earlier this year, Google revealed that Search Live is powered by a custom version of Gemini. However, users may find some overlap with Gemini Live, a similar feature within the Gemini app that was launched in May.
Alongside the rollout, Google has expanded AI Mode to seven new Indian languages, Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu. The update is part of a global AI Mode expansion to more than 35 new languages and 40 new countries, bringing AI-powered search to over 200 regions worldwide.
Google’s AI Mode, first launched in the U.S. in March, allows users to ask complex, multi-step questions through an AI-enhanced interface. It debuted in India in June and went global in August, with Hindi, Indonesian, and Japanese added in September.
“The advanced reasoning and multimodal understanding of our custom Gemini model for Search allows AI Mode to truly grasp the subtleties of local languages,” Budaraju added.
Related: Google Expands AI Mode in Search to Spanish-Speaking Users
Despite concerns that AI features like AI Mode and AI Overviews may reduce traffic to publishers, Google insists its AI-driven search tools are designed to enhance the user experience rather than hurt website visits.
