Google Fuses AI Mode With Search as Gemini Hits 1 Billion Users

By Priya Raman

Gemini reached 1 billion users, according to Sundar Pichai, who called it “the fastest growing product in Google’s History.” Pichai disclosed the figure on Google’s Q3 2026 earnings call, where the company presented AI Mode, AI Overviews and traditional Search as one product, with agents moving into Search.

Marie Haynes framed the milestone as evidence of rapid Gemini growth and noted that it matched the 1 billion ChatGPT users reported in June 2026.

Pichai said: “We are building one seamless experience across AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Traditional Search.” Philipp Schindler said: “We think of Search holistically, a unified product spanning traditional results and AI powered Search.” The executives described agentic experiences across Google surfaces as early-stage and commercially promising.

Schindler said: “We are in the early stages of agentic experiences across our surfaces, and excited about the commercial opportunities ahead.” Google built those experiences into Gemini Enterprise first. Schindler described the sequence as “as a next step [they’re] bringing these features to Search.”

Pichai said: “It’s clear that the agentic capabilities we all envision are going to be real.” He added: “I’m excited about agents, and I would view it as a new frontier, which brings in a new set of use cases to Search.”

Marie Haynes, whose newsletter analyzed the call, reported that Alphabet revenue rose 25% year over year and Cloud revenue rose 103%. Search advertising rose 12% year over year, below Wall Street’s 15% expectation. Haynes said Google shares plummeted amid concern that AI Mode shows fewer advertising opportunities, leaving Search revenue below expectations.

Haynes said traditional Search monetization is disappearing even as new opportunities emerge, but she has no concerns about Google’s ability to thrive. Google’s stated sequence puts product quality before revenue: AI Mode must become a quality product before Google focuses on monetizing it. Last week, Google expanded AI Mode ads to more countries, including Australia and Canada.

Schindler said: “Our approach is deliberate – prioritizing the user experience and engagement first, then scaling the formats.” Haynes expects Google will make plenty from advertising over the years, with connected apps a possible extension of that business.

Google also reported strong demand for computing capacity. “TPU Systems” appeared 35 times on the call.

Thomas Kurian said: “A TPU System is not just a chip, but it’s a specialized system that combines multiple things, including hardware, computer, storage, networking and so we are selling much more than just a chip. Software, training, inference.” Haynes linked that full-system offer to likely growth as customers buy more TPU Systems.

On the day of the call, Google announced the Connected Apps Platform. A handful of apps already work through MCP in Gemini or Search; Google’s example let a user call @Peloton and bring the Peloton experience into an agentic Gemini flow. Six months earlier, Pichai had said: “Search will be an agent manager.”

Haynes sees Search moving from a place to find websites to a place to use tools that complete tasks. She said Google appeared to be taking time on agents because it needed to get them right, comparing that pace with X’s Grokbot, OpenAI’s Dots and Meta’s Muse, which she described as taking off.

In May 2025, Demis Hassabis had described a “Universal AI Assistant,” with Genie world models training robots and Project Astra, now in Gemini Live, providing insight into the world around us. The work reflected Google’s mission to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Haynes sees an end game beyond online task help, extending agents into intelligent eyewear and home robots.

Pichai said more models are coming soon, including “more efficient versions to help developers optimize for speed and cost.” Last week, Google announced Gemini 4 Carbon, two weeks after Gemini 4 Argon. Carbon is in voluntary testing under U.S. government recommendations and due for release soon; Artificial Analysis lists it as the most intelligent model to date.

Haynes had argued that Google’s models remained behind OpenAI and Anthropic. Pichai said Gemini 3.8 Flash produced a step change in internal coding, and Gemini 4 Argon became a “huge point of inflection.”

He described Argon as: “It is one of the most meaningful internal productivity levers [they] have seen on software engineering, directly tracking high-quality code that’s getting checked in, and the rate at which it’s getting checked in.” Pichai added: “Carbon is a meaningful step up from Argon.”

Haynes also said her own Gemini app use had declined significantly. She now runs Gemini 4 Argon in three or four simultaneous Antigravity conversations and has barely touched her Ultra-plan quota.

She said 3.8 Flash helped automate her SEO reports, while Argon, her internal OKF-powered “knowledge brain” and an algorithm-update MCP produced better consulting reports than she could alone. She believes AI is not far from outperforming the best human experts at knowledge work.

Last week, Google announced Genie 4, its latest world model, which can generate scenes and games and will create training simulations for AI agents and robots.

Pichai said: “Beyond our Gemini 4 series, yesterday we announced Genie 4, our most advanced world model yet that simulates safe, realistic, interactive worlds with native audio in real time. This is an important building block for training robots and agents.”

What does this change for marketers?

Haynes sees Search moving from a directory of links to a task interface. Google is making AI Mode a quality-first product before scaling ad formats, so marketers cannot assume AI Mode will match traditional Search inventory. Connected Apps adds an MCP distribution route for businesses whose services can run inside Gemini; Peloton supplied Google’s example.

Pichai expects “continued acceleration because of RSI” over the next twelve months. RSI means Recursive Self-Improvement: AI used to improve AI. For marketers, that timetable makes AI Mode distribution, agentic Search and connected-app access the next variables to track.