Google has begun rolling out information agents inside AI Mode, giving the search product its first persistent, always-on helper that monitors the web and pushes updates when something changes. The feature, first announced at I/O 2026 in May, is live now for Google AI Ultra subscribers in every market and language where AI Mode is available. A broader rollout to more subscribers is promised later this summer.
Robby Stein, Google’s vice president of product for Search, confirmed the rollout in a Friday post. He wrote that the agents “work around the clock on your behalf to send detailed updates and links to the web the moment new info is available.” The agents are the first concrete product to ship in what Google now calls the era of Search agents, a category Search lead Liz Reid introduced at Google’s developer conference in May. AI Pro subscribers will get access later, with a wider free rollout promised in the summer.
Information agents are live in AI Mode
Google’s I/O 2026 announcement on Search agents laid out the Search agents vision in May, with information agents slated for AI Pro and Ultra subscribers sometime this summer. The Friday launch lands earlier than the original timing for the top paid tier. The rest of the rollout, including AI Pro, comes later this summer, per Stein.
Stein said information agents are available in all AI Mode languages and markets for Google AI Ultra subscribers today, and that Google will “expand to more people this summer.” The agent lives inside AI Mode, the conversational layer of Google Search, and runs through the Google app. A user asks AI Mode to keep them updated on a topic. The agent then works in the background to monitor the web and send notifications when relevant new information surfaces.
What an information agent does
An information agent is built per request, then runs in the background. The user tells AI Mode what to track, and the agent is constructed around that specific question. The same user can run several agents at the same time without one bleeding into another.
Google’s I/O description is broad: the agent “intelligently look[s] across everything on the web, like blogs, news sites and social posts, plus our freshest data, such as real-time info on finance, shopping and sports.” When something matches, the agent pushes an “intelligent, synthesized update” with links to the underlying sources. Google’s worked examples from I/O show what the agent looks like in practice. They cover apartment hunting, sneaker drops, and price-condition alerts.
Each agent is created per user request, so the same user could run a sneaker monitor and an apartment monitor at the same time. The agent sends a synthesized update, with the ability to take action. It runs until the user turns it off or the question is answered.
- Apartment hunting. The user brain-dumps every requirement; the agent continuously scans listings and pings when a match appears.
- Sneaker collabs. The user asks to be pinged when a favorite athlete announces a drop; the agent alerts at the announcement, and again when the shoe goes on sale (Google’s example used A’ja Wilson’s pink Nikes).
- Stock and price moves. Search lead Liz Reid described an agent that watches for a price condition and notifies the user when it triggers.
Search is no longer something you visit
Classical Search is a tool a user visits: type a query, get links, click through. Information agents invert that flow. The user sets the question once, the agent works continuously. The agent keeps watching and notifies the user only when there is something to report.
Google framed the launch as the start of a wider era of Search agents that handle many tasks at once. The agent itself runs on Gemini 3.5 Flash, the newest Flash model Google swapped in as the default for AI Mode at I/O. That is the same model that powers every answer AI Mode returns today.
Ask Google to just keep you updated on anything, and now our agents can do work for you even if you’re not using Google. So, you could be asleep, and it’s still helping you.
Robby Stein, vice president of product for Google Search, said this in a recent Wired interview. The framing positions the agent as doing the work continuously, in the background, without the user opening the app. The agent runs the queries and reads the results on the user’s behalf. The user comes back only when there is news.
Google said at I/O that AI Mode has surpassed one billion monthly users, with queries more than doubling every quarter since launch and last quarter hitting an all-time high. Putting a 24/7 monitor in front of a base that size means the agent, working in the background 24/7, sends the user a synthesized update when something relevant surfaces. The next layer of the same change, booking agents and mini apps, is already on the calendar for later this summer. Information agents are the first feature in that lineup that runs while the user is not in the app. The rest of the agent features Google announced at I/O will follow through the summer, per the same staged rollout plan.
AI Ultra subscribers get the door first
The launch is gated. Only Google AI Ultra subscribers can build information agents today, in every market and language where AI Mode runs. AI Pro subscribers are next, per Stein’s Friday post, with a broader free rollout to follow later this summer. The split puts a lot of always-on decision making behind a subscription, and the gating pattern shows up across the agent features Google announced at I/O.
Information agents and Antigravity-powered mini apps go first to AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers. Booking agents and the redesigned intelligent Search box, by contrast, are slated to reach all U.S. users this summer. Personal Intelligence, the feature that lets AI Mode connect to Gmail, Photos, and soon Calendar, is rolling out for free to nearly 200 countries and 98 languages. The split gives Google room to test the most experimental work on paying users, then widen. A snapshot of the I/O 2026 numbers Google put on the record:
- 1 billion AI Mode monthly users.
- Queries more than doubling every quarter since launch.
- ~200 countries and 98 languages covered by the free Personal Intelligence rollout.
- Paid AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers get information agents and Antigravity mini apps first.
- All U.S. users get booking agents and the new intelligent Search box this summer.
The wider agent roadmap for Search
Information agents are the opening move. Google laid out a longer list of agent features heading into Search at I/O, and information agents are the first to ship. For a fuller look at the May announcements, see how AI Mode reached one billion monthly users.
Next up is booking, which Google said will roll out to all U.S. users this summer. The new agents can pull live pricing and availability for restaurants, local services, and experiences. For categories like home repair, beauty, or pet care, the agent can call a business on the user’s behalf. Google’s now-defunct Duplex product did the same; the new booking agent focuses on data collection and a booking link.
After that comes Antigravity-powered mini apps. The user describes a long-running task, like a wedding plan, a fitness tracker, or a cross-country move, and Search builds a custom dashboard around it. Those start for AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers in the U.S. in the coming months, then widen.
The information agent is the first feature in that lineup to ship. The new intelligent Search box, Gemini 3.5 Flash as the default model, and Personal Intelligence for Gmail and Photos are all part of the same shift. Google has said the next agent types, including booking and mini apps, will follow through the summer. The full list of I/O 2026 announcements runs to 100 items, with information agents as the opening move.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are Google AI Mode information agents?
Information agents are persistent AI helpers inside Google AI Mode. Once a user tells AI Mode what to track, the agent is built around that specific question and runs in the background. The agent pulls together web results and Google data sources, then sends a synthesized update with source links when something relevant changes.
How do information agents find updates?
Google describes the agents as scanning “everything on the web, like blogs, news sites and social posts, plus our freshest data, such as real-time info on finance, shopping and sports.” Each agent is built around a specific user request, so two users tracking the same topic get two separate agents. The agent is treated as an ongoing task that keeps watching, not a one-time query. The full list of source categories is broader than Google’s own data, drawing on blogs, news sites, and social posts as well.
When will information agents be available to everyone?
At launch, information agents are limited to Google AI Ultra subscribers in every AI Mode language and market. Google said the broader release, including AI Pro, will follow later this summer. A free, wider rollout has not been dated, and Google has not named a specific date for the broader release.
Can information agents take action on a user’s behalf?
Google describes the updates as “intelligent, synthesized” with “the ability to take action.” The worked examples so far stop at alerting the user: a new apartment listing, a sneaker drop, a price condition. Action, in practice, lives in a separate product line: Google said its booking agents will roll out to U.S. users this summer. The booking agents can call local businesses in some categories, like home repair or pet care.
