The Google home page has undergone a small but significant addition in the last few hours which enriches the search bar with a new integrated “+” button, for now only in the desktop version of the operating system and in incognito mode. After the introduction of a quick link with AI Mode, with this addition Google clarifies that search is no longer just a tool for finding a list of links, but an environment in which the user can carry out real activities supported by the now omnipresent artificial intelligence. By clicking on the new button located on the far left of the search bar (instead of the classic magnifying glass), you can access a menu through which to load images or files directly into the search. In this way, a richer interaction is activated, which takes advantage of AI Mode, which accustoms the user to not just writing keywords, but to providing increasingly complex questions (complete with images and documents), feeding them to the “Big G” artificial intelligence which will thus be able to analyze them, explain them or relate them to other information. Let’s see how the new change works.
A little big change: what is the “+” button for?
Historically, google.com has always been an example of stability: its interface changes very rarely and only when Google believes that a change could have strategic value. After the inclusion, at the beginning of the year, of a shortcut dedicated to AI Mode, a further change has now arrived which, this time, concerns the addition of the “+” button which gives access to a menu with which it is possible to load an image or a document. These functions are by no means new but which, in fact, are more immediate to identify for the majority of users and which, moreover, are directly connected to the search experience based on artificial intelligence.
A practical example can help you better understand this last aspect: if we upload the instructions of a modeling kit in PDF format, you can now ask where to buy a specific piece mentioned in the document online; if instead you provide a photo of a guitar, you can ask which ones pick-up are used in that model. This type of interaction moves Google Search from a purely informational to an operational level, in which the user actively collaborates with AI to solve a concrete problem. Not surprisingly, Google explained that the goal is to make it simpler «ask anything, in any way».
From an availability perspective, the “+” button is currently only visible on the desktop web version of Google Search, not on mobile devices. From the checks carried out, it is also active in incognito browsing sessions, therefore without a connected Google account. The implementation started in the United States in English and is progressively extending globally to areas where AI Mode is already available. The arrival of the new button in Italy has already started and, in fact, we have already received and tested the new function in Italian.
How to use the new “+” button on Google
As soon as you too receive the new “+” button on Google, here’s how to use it in a few simple steps.
- Go to the Google home page.
- Click on the + button.
- Select the Upload Image or Upload File option, depending on what you want to upload.
- Select the image or file to feed to Google from the window that opens.
- Fill in the text field Ask about this image or Ask anything (depending on the previous choice) and then click on the AI Mode button or press Enter on the keyboard.
- Interact with AI Mode by sending, if necessary, further questions relating to the image or file uploaded.
