Over two billion people now interact with AI-powered search capabilities every month, representing one of the largest shifts in how humanity discovers information. Soufi Esmaeilzadeh, Director of Product Management for Google Search, leads the team responsible for re-imagining what it means to search and trust what we find online. In this episode of Lead with AI, host Dr. Tamara Nall speaks with Soufi about how Google transformed search from keyword matching into conversational dialogue.

Soufi has spent over a decade building products at Google, but she describes the current phase as the most exciting of her career. The recent paradigm shift in generative AI opened entirely new possibilities for answering questions people never asked before. Creative ideas that always seemed out of reach suddenly became technically feasible. The first major product was AI Overviews, now available to over two billion monthly active users, allowing people to ask more complex questions in natural language. This success led to AI mode, which enables fully conversational engagement where users refine questions through dialogue rather than isolated queries.

 Query Fan Out Technique 

When you ask Google Search a question today, something fundamentally different happens behind the scenes. Soufi describes this as the "query fan out technique," where generative models break down your question into multiple facets and subtopics, then conduct parallel research to compose a response.

Imagine asking for hotel recommendations with specific requirements: kid-friendly but not too large and loud, within a certain budget, suitable for exhausted parents. The AI model takes all these nuanced considerations and runs multiple searches simultaneously, evaluating different facets. It synthesizes the best options and connects you to relevant web sources that address each dimension. The result feels less like searching and more like having a knowledgeable assistant who understands context.

 Discovering New Ways to Think  

Soufi's favorite part of her role involves sitting in on user research sessions. One moment stands out: a college student discussing their experience using AI mode while approaching graduation. They talked about navigating career decisions, with numerous questions about possible paths and variables to consider. Watching this student go back and forth with AI mode, using it to reason through their choices, validated what Soufi's team hoped to achieve.

Beyond formal research, Soufi experiences validation in everyday life. Parents at her son's school share how AI mode has changed how they plan family vacations or understand complex topics. These encounters confirm that the team is helping people get things done faster and easier in their daily lives.

 Redefine How We Discover Information   

Soufi identifies three innovation areas that will shape the future of search. The rate of technological advancement moves so quickly that she regularly experiences "oh my gosh, we can do that" moments.

The first frontier is agentic capabilities, where AI can take actions on your behalf when requested. Google recently launched dining reservation booking through AI mode, representing just the beginning of what becomes possible when models can act as agents.

The second frontier is multi-modal interaction. Search Live allows users to turn on their camera and ask questions about what they're seeing. Soufi's household uses this to debug appliances and connect devices. Users can point their camera at a new television with various cords and have a conversational dialogue about where each cord connects. Visual AI mode pushes this further for inspiration and shopping. Soufi used this capability combined with image generation to design birthday cakes for her sons, browsing themes visually and generating custom designs based on their personalities.

The third frontier is personalization. As users interact with Google Search, the system can understand preferences, interests, and decision-making criteria. This allows search to deliver relevant answers faster without requiring users to repeat context.

 Building Trust Through Accuracy While Innovating at Speed   

The pace of innovation creates an obvious tension: how do you move quickly while maintaining accuracy? For Soufi, this question sits at the core of responsible AI development. Trust in providing accurate information has been central to Google Search for 25 years, and all AI products are anchored in those core search quality systems.

AI Overviews and AI mode responses are grounded in web sources, both to ensure accuracy and to enable users to dig deeper independently. The same policies and quality standards that apply to traditional search features apply to AI-powered capabilities. Soufi emphasizes that speed of innovation never comes at the expense of trust.

 The Exponential Future and the New Generation of Builders   

When asked about bold predictions, Soufi focuses on two interconnected themes. First, the rate of innovation will be exponential rather than linear. The team already looks around the corner constantly, asking "what next?" before current projects finish launching.

Second, these technological capabilities will create a new generation of entrepreneurs. People who have historically faced barriers to building businesses will suddenly find those barriers removed. The technology lowers the threshold for expressing creativity and engaging with advancement. Soufi sees AI as leveling the playing field. A child in a remote village can become just as competitive as someone with abundant resources. This potential for widespread empowerment drives Soufi's enthusiasm as much as the technical innovation itself.

Want to experience the future of search? Visit google.com/ai to access Google's latest AI-powered search capabilities, including AI mode, Search Live, and visual AI features.

For more insights on how AI is transforming business and society, subscribe to the Lead with AI podcast, where we explore the frontiers of artificial intelligence with the innovators who are shaping its development.

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Follow Soufi Esmaeilzadeh: LinkedIn: @Soufi-E

Google Live Search: Website: google.com/ai