Google has introduced its AI search tool AI Mode in India, as competition heats up from new age AI search platforms such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Perplexity.

AI Mode has more advanced reasoning and multimodality, and the ability to go deeper through follow-up questions and helpful links to the web, said Google in a blog.

AI Mode was first introduced in the US as an experiment earlier this year and it started rolling out to all the US users after its Google IO event.

Following the positive feedback, the company is bringing AI Mode to India, as an experiment in English, it noted. However, it did not mention if and when it will be available in other Indian languages.

The introduction of AI Mode in India is significant not only because of the country's over 870 million internet user base but also because of the competition arising out of the instant popularity of AI search platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity that have sort of made Google's search engine a thing of the past.

AI Mode uses a custom version of Gemini 2.5 and it lets users ask longer, more complex or nuanced questions that would have previously required multiple searches, it explained.

"It’s particularly helpful for exploratory questions and for more complicated tasks like comparing products, planning a trip, or understanding complex how-tos," it added.

Interestingly, the blog also provided a sample of a suggestion that users could ask AI Mode. Here's the sample:

My kids are 4 and 7 and have lots of energy. Suggest creative ways to get them active and moving indoors, especially on hot days, without needing a lot of space or expensive toys.

The Head and Tale did a small experiment of its own and ran this sample word-for-word in AI Mode, Perplexity and ChatGPT to compare the suggestions they threw up. You can check the results in our infographic below.

Here's what we thought about the results:

As expected, the suggestions given by these AI platforms were mostly similar, with a bit of variation in the words and phrases, giving the feeling that they cheated from one another.

The suggestions were also quite run-of-the-mill like obstacle course, dance (freeze) party, animal walks, balloon volleyball and treasure hunt/scavenger hunt, and build a fort/put on a play/charades with a twist. One could also argue that these are very human-like ideas for kids!

A couple of areas where AI Mode's suggestions were unique were in its recommendation of pulling out an actual book to reread and cleaning up game.

Notably, AI Mode was the only platform that stressed on prioritizing safety when setting up these activities.

Interestingly, Perplexity threw up suggestions like "Yoga or stretching challenges" while ChatGPT mentioned "Mini Workouts" for a kids activity which I thought was a bit premature to be imparting at their age. But kids grow fast in today's age, they say.

At the end of this comparison, we were left wondering what the human brain would suggest.