Google has released an AI Mode in its search service for Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa, a big step in AI-driven search technology in Africa.
This update promises a more innovative, natural approach to obtaining information that can answer complex, multi-layered issues without several searches.
AI Mode utilises the most recent Gemini 2.5 model from Google, which improves contextual comprehension and reasoning, allowing users to delve deeper into topics with a single query.
“We know that people in this region are curious and have complex questions about everything from planning a trip to understanding a new concept,” said Alex Okosi, Managing Director of Google Africa.
“With AI Mode, users will find information more easily and explore a broader range of content from the web”.
How AI Mode changes search in Africa
The standout feature of AI Mode is its advanced reasoning technique, query fan-out, which breaks down a user’s question into subtopics and searches many queries at once.
This allows for discovering hyper-relevant content that might have been missed in traditional searches.
Moreover, AI Mode supports multimodal inputs, so users can ask questions with text, voice commands, or images—tap the microphone or upload a photo to initiate a search.
Expanded content interaction and user empowerment
Google prominently links AI Mode responses to web sources to encourage users to visit more varied websites. This increases internet content discovery and access to reliable information.
Google claims that when AI confidence is low, the search defaults to traditional results, ensuring quality information.
Accessible across devices
AI Mode is being rolled out as a new tab on the search results page and integrated into the Google app on Android and iOS platforms.
This means millions of users across these African countries can immediately start using this AI-powered feature to answer even their most complicated questions easily and quickly.
Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa are now recognised as pioneers in adopting next-generation AI search technology on the continent. This technology will facilitate more intelligent information access and more comprehensive online exploration.