Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Google is testing a new refresh shortcut for AI Mode

By Fionna Agomuoh Published March 26, 2025

Google AI Mode for Search. — Google

Google’s new AI Mode for search may soon get an update to make the feature easier to navigate after users input a query.

The Gemini 2.0-powered AI-search function is an elevated search experience, providing a mix of contextual AI Overviews and relevant search links. Currently, Google has made AI Mode available to its Google One AI Premium subscribers as a preview. However, the brand may soon expand availability to free users, while also making it easier to reset an AI Mode conversation and remain on the same page.

Google app beta release including AI Mode update with refresh feature. — Android Authority

Recently, Android Authority shared details from an APK teardown revealing a potential new feature that might come to Google’s AI Mode. The function is a shortcut that would allow you to refresh your conversation without having to navigate away from the AI Mode page.

Recommended Videos

Currently, accessing AI Mode via Google Search requires a few steps. You can select the feature through the AI Mode shortcut on the home screen on the Google app. Alternatively, you can convert your desktop Google search results by enabling the AI Mode filter. After an initial query, you can ask follow-up questions on the same topic. However, if you want to start a new topic, you will have to navigate back to the app or desktop homepage and then go back into AI Mode once more to get a fresh conversation.

The shortcut Google is testing in its app beta release (version 16.11.32.sa.arm64) could negate the need to go back and forth between the primary Google Search and the AI mode apps to refresh the conversations. The icon, located in the top left of the results page, is shaped like a paper and pencil. When selected, it will refresh the page without having to leave AI Mode.

The feature has only been seen within Google’s app beta release and has not yet made it to the public version of AI Mode. However, the feature may become available in a future update.

Meanwhile, as Google One AI Premium subscribers have been enjoying early access to AI Mode, some users who joined the waitlist with a free Google account are now getting a notice that they have gained access to the feature, according to 9to5Google.

These users will now be able to see the AI Mode filter on the Google app home screen or the Google search results page.

Topics

Computing Writer

Fionna Agomuoh is a Computing Writer at Digital Trends. She covers a range of topics in the computing space, including…

Computing

Google Meet’s new dynamic layouts make your video calls feel less robotic

Google Meets on an HP Chromebook.

Google Meet is getting a smarter, sharper facelift designed to make your next video call feel a lot more personal, and less like a screen full of disjointed tiles.

Google announced a sweeping update to its video calling platform called Dynamic Layouts that attempts to reimagine how caller appear and interact during virtual meetings. It's all part of a push to make hybrid meetings feel more human, with AI-powered visuals and intelligent room detection leading the charge. And hopefully a little less awkward small talk, too.

Computing

ChatGPT’s Advanced Voice Mode now has a ‘better personality’

ChatGPT's Advanced Voice Mode on a smartphone.

If you find that ChatGPT’s Advanced Voice Mode is a little too keen to jump in when you’re engaged in a conversation, then you’ll be pleased to know that the latest update should bring an end to such unwanted interruptions.

OpenAI post-training researcher Manuka Stratta said in a video posted on Monday that the update gives Advanced Voice Mode a “better personality,” adding that the AI-powered tool will now “interrupt you much less ... [and] because it interrupts you less, you'll be able to have more time to gather your thoughts and not feel like you have to fill in all the gaps and silences all the time.”

Computing

Samsung might put AI smart glasses on the shelves this year

Google's AR smartglasses translation feature demonstrated.

Samsung’s Project Moohan XR headset has grabbed all the spotlights in the past few months, and rightfully so. It serves as the flagship launch vehicle for a reinvigorated Android XR platform, with plenty of hype from Google’s own quarters.
But it seems Samsung has even more ambitious plans in place and is reportedly experimenting with different form factors that go beyond the headset format. According to Korea-based ET News, the company is working on a pair of smart glasses and aims to launch them by the end of the ongoing year.
Currently in development under the codename “HAEAN” (machine-translated name), the smart glasses are reportedly in the final stages of locking the internal hardware and functional capabilities. The wearable device will reportedly come equipped with camera sensors, as well.

What to expect from Samsung’s smart glasses?
The Even G1 smart glasses have optional clip-on gradient shades. Photo by Tracey Truly / Digital Trends
The latest leak doesn’t dig into specifics about the internal hardware, but another report from Samsung’s home market sheds some light on the possibilities. As per Maeil Business Newspaper, the Samsung smart glasses will feature a 12-megapixel camera built atop a Sony IMX681 CMOS image sensor.
It is said to offer a dual-silicon architecture, similar to Apple’s Vision Pro headset. The main processor on Samsung’s smart glasses is touted to be Qualcomm’s Snapdragon AR1 platform, while the secondary processing hub is a chip supplied by NXP.
The onboard camera will open the doors for vision-based capabilities, such as scanning QR codes, gesture recognition, and facial identification. The smart glasses will reportedly tip the scales at 150 grams, while the battery size is claimed to be 155 mAh.