What is the new ‘+’ button in the Google search bar: the new function to use AI Mode

Specifically, you can see that the search bar no longer has a magnifying glass-shaped icon on the far left, but now has a new ‘+’-shaped icon, which replaces the well-known magnifying glass to opt for the AI ​​Mode experience directly from the main page.

Therefore, this new ‘+’ button is a new menu that, when pressed, allows you to select and attach both an image and a file, so that the search is carried out with these documents provided as a base context.

That is, users can share a specific image stored on their computer to search for information about the elements that appear, as well as upload their own PDF file to increase research on the content discussed in said document, directly from the Google search bar, indicating what they want to do.

Google already offers this capability in its search experience with AI Mode, an option that arrived in Spain in October of this year and is based on a more powerful search experience assisted by the company’s artificial intelligence (AI), covering multiple languages, complex questions and approaches that include voice and images.

Therefore, the technology company has added the ‘+’ menu, already available within the AI ​​Mode section, directly in the main search bar of Google.com, so that users can choose to access this advanced search experience from the beginning in a simpler way.

According to the specialized media 9to5Google, which has also had access to this novelty in Google’s desktop web version, the ‘+’ icon is displayed even in incognito mode and without the need to be logged in.

In this sense, it works in a simple way since, when you press the ‘+’, it offers an alternative to ‘Upload image’ or ‘Upload file’. Once the desired option has been selected and the content in question has been shared, Google analyzes it to carry out the search requested in the search bar.

With all this, Google has not officially shared information about this change and it is not yet available to all users in a general way. However, it is an option that makes AI Mode more accessible in order to promote its use.