Google has announced that it has overhauled its search engine to be entirely powered by its Gemini 3.5 Flash artificial intelligence model. Users will no longer be prompted to choose their search mode; instead, the search box will operate more like a conversation, with the option for users to ask follow-up questions. The changes are set to take effect on Tuesday, May 26, 2026. 

McGill experts are available to discuss this topic. 

Nabil Beitinjaneh is a program co-ordinator for the Data Science and Data Analytics programs at the School of Continuing Studies. He can comment on how AI-led search may fundamentally shift how users find, interpret and trust information online from active searching (hunting and evaluation) to passive answer consumption (accepting the information the AI provides).  

He can also discuss how increases in the computational power required for AI search carry globally significant ecological costs. 

nabil.beitinjaneh [at] mcgill.ca (English, French) 

Emmanuelle Vaast is the Desautels 1 Chair in Digital Technology Management, Professor of Information Systems and Associate Dean of Research at the Desautels Faculty of Management. She can discuss considerations for researchers and critical thinking, as well as potential downstream effects for businesses, such as changing how search engine optimization works. 

emmanuelle.vaast [at] mcgill.ca (English, French)