Google is testing an AI-first version of its homepage for signed-out users, and the classic Search button is gone.
Below the search box sit three shortcuts — Create images, Ask about files and Brainstorm — with an AI Mode button now inside the search field. I’m Feeling Lucky is the only survivor from the old row.
Search Engine Watch spotted the layout in the stable version of Chrome while signed out, then in Microsoft Edge and Perplexity’s Comet browser. Search Engine Roundtable’s Barry Schwartz covered it the same morning.
Inside Google’s new AI homepage
The shortcuts are not just adverts. SEW tested all four entry points: AI Mode, Ask about files and Brainstorm ran while signed out. Create images is the exception — Google requires an account before it will generate anything.
Ask about files is the most useful of the three. A + button inside the search box attaches a file before you submit a question, and it worked without signing in. It is the same file-handling Google’s Gemini app recently gained.
Signing in removes the three shortcuts. Signing out brings them back.
What Google has not said
Google has not announced the layout. It could be a test, a server-side rollout, or something limited by account, session or location. Most of these features already live in the Google Search app; the desktop homepage for anonymous visitors is the new part.
The results page has been drifting AI-first for a year — AI Overviews above the links, and publishers pushing back. The homepage was the last holdout. This test touches it: the Search button replaced by shortcuts to Gemini, image generation included, no account required for most of it.
What is AI Mode on Google?
AI Mode is Google’s Gemini-powered search mode. Instead of a list of links, it answers the query in a conversational block, drawing on the web in real time.
Why do the AI shortcuts disappear when I sign in?
Search Engine Watch saw the three shortcuts vanish after signing in and return after signing out. It suggests the test targets anonymous traffic specifically, showing AI features to people before they have an account.
Is the new Google homepage available in the UAE?
Not confirmed. Google has not announced the layout, and it may be a test limited by account, session or location. Treat any sightings as part of an unconfirmed test until Google says otherwise.
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