# Google’s AI-Powered Search is Booming, But Regulatory Headwinds Loom

## Google’s AI-Powered Search is Booming, But Regulatory Headwinds Loom

Google is aggressively pushing AI into its search engine, and the latest figures suggest the strategy is paying off. During its Q1 2025 earnings call, the company revealed substantial growth in the adoption of its AI-powered search features, even as regulatory scrutiny intensifies.

A key driver of this growth is AI Overviews, Google’s AI-summarized search results, which launched two years ago. The feature, now available in over 100 countries and languages, boasts over 1.5 billion monthly users. AI Overviews compiles information from across the web to provide concise answers to user queries directly on the search results page.

Beyond AI Overviews, Google highlighted the success of other AI-driven search products. Circle to Search, which allows users to search by highlighting content directly on their smartphone screens, is now available on over 250 million devices, marking a nearly 40% increase in usage quarter-over-quarter. The use of Google Lens, the company’s multimodal AI-powered visual search technology, has also surged, with searches increasing by 5 billion since October. Shopping through Lens saw a 10% increase in Q1 as well.

Google is also actively experimenting with new AI search interfaces. They recently began testing “AI Mode,” an attempt to rival chat-based search interfaces like ChatGPT and Perplexity, allowing users to ask complex, multi-part questions and receive conversational responses. The company is even incorporating ads directly into AI Overviews, signaling its intent to monetize these new search paradigms.

While Google touts the growth of its AI search capabilities, the company faces mounting regulatory pressure. The U.S. Department of Justice continues to push for a spin-off of the Chrome browser, following a court ruling that Google holds an illegal monopoly in online search. A recent ruling also declared Google’s ad tech practices monopolistic, potentially leading to a breakup of the company. These legal challenges could significantly impact Google’s future strategy and its dominance in the search market, even as it attempts to revolutionize the way people find information online.