Google's AI Mode Can Now Check Your Grocery List and Open Canva For You

Search results are starting to act more like assistants. Google confirmed on Thursday that AI Mode, its conversational layer inside Search, now lets users link accounts from Instacart, Canva, and YouTube Music, then act on that data directly from a search query. Ask AI Mode if a product is in stock at a nearby store, for instance, and it can check inventory through a connected retailer rather than sending users off to browse a separate app or website.

The rollout is currently limited to users in the United States, and Google says it is working with additional partners to bring more app integrations online in the coming months. The company has not specified which services are next in line, but the direction is clear: AI Mode is shifting from a tool that answers questions to one that executes small tasks on a user's behalf, from checking stock availability to potentially editing a design or queuing up a playlist.

This isn't Google's first attempt at stitching third-party apps into its AI products. At Google I/O earlier this year, the company unveiled a similar connector system for the Gemini app, which already links to WhatsApp, OpenTable, Spotify, Booking.com, Canva, Spark, and Instacart. Bringing a version of that same app-linking capability into Search's AI Mode suggests Google is trying to unify the task-completion features across its two major AI surfaces rather than keeping them siloed.

The update arrives alongside two other AI Mode additions Google has rolled out this year. One is "Personal Intelligence," which draws on a user's Gmail and Google Photos to tailor responses more specifically to their own context. The other, a web browsing feature that displays live pages side-by-side with AI Mode's chat interface, lets people compare information and ask follow-up questions without losing their place. TechCrunch describes that feature as having been added recently, while MediaNama pins its launch to April 2026. The exact date is a minor discrepancy, but both outlets agree it predates this week's app-integration news and represents part of the same broader push toward a more interactive, less static AI Mode.

The timing also puts Google in more direct competition with OpenAI, which introduced its own Instant Checkout feature inside ChatGPT last September, letting users complete purchases from retailers such as Etsy, Walmart, and Shopify without leaving the chat window. Google's approach differs slightly, focusing for now on checking availability and app-linking rather than in-chat transactions, but the underlying goal, keeping users inside the AI interface for longer and for more of their errands, looks nearly identical. As both companies race to turn conversational AI into a functional control layer for everyday apps, the real test will be how many services actually choose to plug in.