Google is fundamentally changing its search box interface for the first time in a quarter century, moving away from the thin white rectangle that has defined web search since the company’s inception. According to The New York Times, the tech giant is using a new Gemini AI model to overhaul the search box dimensions specifically to accommodate longer queries.
The announcement was made at Google’s annual I/O developer conference on Tuesday, according to VentureBeat. For 25 years, the Google search paradigm has consisted of “a thin white rectangle, a blinking cursor, a few typed words, and a list of blue links,” but that model is now being formally retired, VentureBeat reports.
According to The New York Times, the changes extend beyond just the search box dimensions. Google is also adding a video-generation tool and simplifying the online shopping experience as part of this AI-powered transformation. The redesign represents a significant shift in how users will interact with Google’s search engine, marking the most substantial change to the interface since the company’s early days.