Even with both products eventually offering a “Live” feature, I think the difference between the Gemini app and AI in Google Search is now pretty clear. However, having two products that do similar things is inelegant, and might pose some confusion for most users.
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From a design standpoint, I think AI Mode is the best looking interface to come out of Google Search in the past few years. The top of the Google app just looks nice, with that AI Mode ring making for an obvious and inviting experience. That design sensibility extends to what we’ve seen of Search Live.
Beyond visuals, AI Mode has the best of Search and the Gemini app. It evokes the simplicity of the Gemini interface. This might just be me, but its lightness and cleanliness comes down to not having lines upon lines of Search autocomplete when typing a query. More broadly (and to be discussed another day), there are certainly queries where having a concise answer is more convenient.
On the Search side, I think an underrated thing that AI Mode (and presumably Search Live) has going for it is a sense of objectivity that’s carried over from the legacy search engine. While Gemini today doesn’t really have a personality (you can vaguely customize it with Saved info), the chatbot nature inherently makes it feel more conversational, if not not opinionated, than it really is.
While AI Mode and Search Live let you learn about the world, Gemini is your “universal AI assistant” that has to be proactive and personal. There’s already capability crossover, especially with AI Mode getting the ability to tap into your Gmail for personal context like when trip planning, but I think the difference comes down to Gemini being something you command across your personal domain rather than ask of the world’s information.
I don’t think most people would want Google Search to handle assistive tasks like “searching” your Google Photos library or texting a friend. A brand separation makes sense, with Gemini benefiting from feeling more private than Search.
Google Search getting AI makes sense from a strategic and business standpoint. At I/O 2025, Sundar Pichai made the point that “Google Search is bringing generative AI to more people than any other product in the world.”
Product-wise, I genuinely think a Live capability is a really good idea, if not natural evolution, for Google Search. Being able to position the feature as letting you talk out loud to Google is really straightforward and a very easy thing to market.
However, while it makes sense to put AI where people already are, there’s an inelegance to having two products with nearly identical features. It harkens back to an earlier Google era of having two competing efforts (Play Music vs. YouTube Music and Google Duo vs. Meet).
Personal taste aside, there’s the question of whether the wider public will be aware of the differences. In some ways, the old Google Assistant branding would have helped, with users never confusing it for Google Search. I do think it will all be less confusing when people start to think of it as the “Gemini Assistant,” but that requires time and use.
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