I gave Google’s AI Mode a shot, but I’m still sticking with Perplexity

We’ve already seen AI creeping into Google Search, whether or not you favored it or not. AI Overviews started off as a frustrating product that marred the unique Search expertise with gradual responses, inaccuracies, and occasional partitions of unhelpful textual content. However it slowly bought higher, and for fast queries the place you didn’t wish to scroll by way of boards or click on on 5 totally different hyperlinks, it really grew to become helpful. That’s what made me hopeful when, at I/O, Google announced a full-fledged AI Mode for on a regular basis use.

Now, I’ve relied on Perplexity for my AI-powered net searches for some time. I finished “googling” a variety of issues way back. So, if the identical type of AI capabilities may very well be baked into Google Search, why would I exploit one other app, proper?

Seems, it’s not that straightforward. As soon as I really began evaluating the 2, the outcomes have been way more difficult.

To offer each instruments a good shot, I requested them the identical set of inquiries to see how effectively they carried out. With Google’s huge understanding of the online — and the truth that a lot of the web is mainly designed to work round Search — I assumed AI Mode would wipe the ground with Perplexity.

However right here’s the factor: it’s not about how a lot knowledge you’ve gotten, it’s about what you do with it.

Logical lapses loom

We discuss smartphones all day over right here, so in fact that’s the place I began. I imagined a mean consumer who desires to improve their cellphone with out doing intense analysis — studying lengthy critiques, watching YouTube movies, and double-checking Reddit posts for credibility. So, I requested AI Mode to assist.

The immediate was merely to recommend the best phones from Samsung and Apple below $1,000.

Google’s AI Mode confidently got here again with the Galaxy A56 and the iPhone 16e — strong telephones, positive, however they’re manner under the finances. The remainder of its recommendations weren’t any higher. It thinks the iPhone 14, a refurbished iPhone 13, Galaxy A35, and the Galaxy S23 Extremely are good telephones for that type of finances. It was mainly a multitude with a complicated mixture of previous and new, premium and finances handsets.

Anybody counting on this to do precise market analysis would stroll away misinformed.

I attempted to information it additional. I insisted on the most recent fashions and requested for a side-by-side comparability. I did get the comparability, however the recommendations remained caught in finances territory. It simply wouldn’t budge.

Perplexity, then again, gave me a desk in its first response — clearly laid out, with every cellphone’s standout options and who’s the cellphone for. Extra importantly, it gave me what I really anticipated for below $1,000: the Galaxy S25 Plus and iPhone 16/16 Pro. , the precise current-gen stuff.

Additionally, Google’s AI Mode felt prefer it was pushing for a sale. All the outcomes web page was plagued by purchasing hyperlinks like an overeager salesperson — that’s once I was nonetheless making an attempt to determine what I even wished.

I like that these AI instruments can save me from opening 20 tabs simply to get one clear reply or create a good journey plan. I requested each AI Mode and Perplexity to assist me plan a finances seven-day journey to Vietnam, and AI Mode was once more a blended bag.

Google’s AI Mode was undoubtedly quick. It gave me a full day-by-day plan within the first outcome itself. The outcomes from each AI Mode and Perplexity curiously felt too comparable, as in the event that they have been studying from the identical supply materials. However the presentation is the place the hole was really evident.

AI Mode gave me an extended, exhausting block of textual content damaged up solely by bullet factors with their very own blocks of textual content. So many phrases pressure you to skim the knowledge that’s already a abstract of much more textual content, defeating the very goal of intelligence, synthetic or in any other case.

Perplexity wanted one follow-up for an in depth plan, however the reply was so a lot better — clear tables, well-spread-out textual content, and a desk with itemized and complete estimated bills. I principally use Perplexity for work on my desktop, and the big-screen expertise was even higher. Every urged lodge had a photograph for reference, a map view of its location, and a few fast professionals and cons of the place (pictured under). That type of little contact goes a good distance. In the meantime, the world’s greatest search engine struggled to even embrace pictures in its AI outcomes regardless of explicitly asking for them.

AI Mode = Awkward Implementation Mode

I’ve already talked about how text-heavy AI Mode feels, particularly on a cellphone display screen. The structure wants extra love from Google’s designers as a result of proper now, it appears to be like dense and, truthfully, even a bit off-putting.

Past the visuals, the precise workflow is a tad clunky too. It’s important to go to the AI Mode part from the Google Search web page or app, and solely then are you able to begin typing your question. You may’t begin speaking to AI Mode straightaway like Perplexity enables you to. Add to that, the presence of AI Overviews and AI Mode on the Search outcomes web page, each making an attempt to serve the identical goal: including to the muddle.

And don’t get me began on chat historical past’s location — it’s once more a multi-step course of as a result of you need to enter AI Mode first. AI Mode doesn’t provide you with a straightforward approach to revisit previous threads, which is type of the entire level of AI search instruments that work round follow-ups and context, which might get misplaced should you can’t proceed in the identical thread.

There’s a transparent distinction between a product constructed for AI from the bottom up, and one the place AI was simply an add-on.

Perplexity feels extra intentional and logically sound. The outcomes are higher laid out, the interactions are extra fruitful, and it doesn’t appear to have a hidden motive, like getting you to click on the “Purchase Now” button. It’s not good, nevertheless it feels mature, like an previous wine.

Google’s AI Mode is just a little tough across the edges, however given it’s nonetheless a brand new function, I can already see the place it might attain with some polish. Realizing Google and the pace at which it’s iterating with its Gemini models and cross-app AI integrations, I wouldn’t be stunned if I got here again in a couple of months and converted fully.