Google AI Mode launches in Europe, brings sweat to publishers’ faces

Anyone who thinks that the launch of ChatGPT was the decisive turning point in the AI ​​era should also mark October 8, 2025, in red on their calendar. That’s when the world’s largest and most important search engine will be optimized for AI, finally in Europe as well.

Google is rolling out its AI Mode this week in 38 new languages ​​and over 40 additional countries, including Germany, Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and Sweden. The enhanced AI search feature, which first launched in the US in May, will be available to all users in the coming weeks on desktop, mobile, and in the Google apps for Android and iOS.

Hard facts about the launch

AI Mode leverages the Frontier capabilities of the Gemini 2.5 models and complements AI Overviews, which are already available in over 200 countries and territories. According to Google, more than 2 billion monthly users worldwide now use AI Overviews. The new feature is accessible as a dedicated tab on the Google search results page, but it will not be set as the default search mode.

According to the company, the development takes local preferences and cultural nuances into account. “Building a truly global search experience goes far beyond mere translation. It also requires a deep understanding of local preferences and cultural nuances,” explained Hema Budaraju, VP of Product Management for Google Search, in an online presentation to European journalists.

Google’s argument: advantages and benefits

Google justifies the introduction with changing user habits. Since the launch of AI Overviews, the company has observed a significant shift: “People are now asking longer, harder, more complex, more nuanced questions,” says Budaraju. The queries are two to three times longer than traditional search queries. AI Overviews have already led to over 10 percent more searches for the corresponding query types – and the trend is rising. What isn’t mentioned is that this change in user behavior is primarily caused by ChatGPT, which now has 800 million weekly active users and is considered the biggest challenger to the cash cow Google Search.

In any case, AI Mode is designed to answer questions that were previously impossible. The system uses a “query fan-out” technique that breaks complex questions down into subtopics and executes multiple search queries simultaneously. “This additional step allows us to display a broader and more diverse selection of helpful web content,” Budaraju explained. The feature offers multimodal capabilities, allowing users to upload images and ask questions about them.

Google emphasizes integration with the web: “AI Mode uses advanced reasoning to essentially break down your complex or tricky question […], allowing it to identify and access even more supporting web pages than was previously possible,” says Budaraju. The company emphasizes that the experience relies on “prominent links” to help users delve deeper into content.

From an advertising perspective, Dan Taylor, VP for Global Ads, argued: “These longer, more conversational queries also open up new opportunities for advertisers to be discovered.” The total number of searches, including commercial queries, increased year-over-year, and over 60 percent of shopping queries focused on broad search intent.

Criticism: Traffic losses for publishers

However, the introduction is raising serious concerns among publishers. Numerous publishers and analysts have reported organic traffic declines of up to 70%. The key question is: How does the expansion of AI Mode fit with Google’s mission to make information universally accessible if publishers risk losing traffic as a result? After all, there’s now talk of the “death of the free web.”

Budaraju evaded several questions about traffic losses. She pointed out that the experiences are “fundamentally focused on ensuring that it’s not just a helpful AI response, but also offers deep connections to the web.” Google is “more committed than anyone else in the industry to sending traffic to the web.”

Regarding the data situation, Budaraju explained: “We’ve seen a lot of speculation and inaccurate data. We’ve seen a lot of speculation and inaccurate claims about traffic from search.” Traffic declines could have various reasons, including seasonal demand and changing user preferences. “From a search perspective, traffic to the web from search remains stable overall,” she emphasized.

The company also argues that AI-powered search is expanding the market. With over 5 trillion searches per year, 15% are new every day. Users are now asking questions that were previously impossible, resulting in net new searches rather than simply redirecting existing queries.

Is Google now a publisher itself?

Budaraju didn’t directly answer the question of whether Google itself becomes a publisher through AI Mode and is responsible for the content. When asked who is liable for incorrect AI Mode responses, she simply referred to the structure of the feature: “These AI Mode and AI Overviews display an AI snapshot along with links to the web. And there are very easy, simple, direct ways for people to interact with the content of the web.”

Google emphasizes that AI Mode is based on the same quality and safety systems developed for search ranking and anti-spam over 20 years. “We continue to test carefully and identify areas for improvement,” Budaraju explained. The system uses Gemini’s reasoning capabilities to check whether “high-quality, trustworthy information” is being displayed.

The question about transparency regarding training data of the Gemini models in accordance with the EU AI Act was not answered during the press briefing.

Advertising integration in Europe is currently excluded

Ads are not currently available within AI Overviews or AI Mode in the EU. Dan Taylor explained, “We’re still in the testing phase of the advertising experience there, and we’re currently only doing it in the US.” However, European advertisers could already benefit from AI-powered campaigns to reach users as search behavior shifts ( read more here ).

The debate between Google’s vision of an expanded, AI-powered search and content creators’ concerns about traffic and reach is likely to become more explosive with the European launch. While Google is reporting stable overall traffic figures, publishers fear substantial losses. At a meeting of media managers on Monday evening at the Austrian Chamber of Commerce, fears about the launch of Google AI Mode were already clearly evident. In November, the Austrian Chamber of Commerce figures may reveal for the first time what effect Google’s AI search is having on website traffic in Austria.