Google Search goes ‘Live’ with real-time camera help

Google today announced Search Live, a new feature that lets users have real-time conversations with Search using their smartphone camera. The tool builds on Google’s work in visual search and AI, combining the capabilities of Google Lens and Project Astra.

How it works. Users can tap a new Live icon in either Lens or AI Mode. After pointing their camera at an object, they can ask questions about it. Search Live responds in real time with explanations, suggestions, and links to relevant websites, videos, and forums.

What it looks like. Here’s a video showing how Search Live works:

Why we care. Search Live highlights Google’s ongoing push toward multimodal search, where text, images, and now live video with voice are all combined. (Google says more than 1.5 billion people use Lens to search visually each month.) Search Live adds a new conversational layer to Google that helps searchers understand not just what they ask, but what they see.

Dig deeper. More Google I/O news from today:

• Google AI Overviews expand to more users
• Google launches AI Mode to all U.S. searchers with new features
• Google Search adds AI try-on, previews agentic checkout

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