Summary
- Google is testing a new Gemini-style animation for the AI Overviews loading screen in Search.
- The updated animation features blue and green hues, along with new on-screen text.
- Google recently said it was testing the new Gemini 2.0 model with AI Overviews, with this updated animation possibly being a part of it.
AI Overviews have taken over the conventional Google Search experience, with the feature now available almost everywhere after being limited to just a few countries initially. Google is now giving AI Overviews a bit of a glow-up, with the search giant testing a Gemini-style animation for the loading page just before the results appear.
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A Reddit user was the first to spot this change and was kind enough to provide imagery, as well as a video detailing this new loading animation (via 9to5Google). It’s a completely new look and a big departure from the blue lines we see on the loading animation in the current version of AI Overviews.
As you can see from the image above, the loading animation has a hue of blue and green, which we associate with Google Gemini. Meanwhile, the search labs logo and the accompanying text (Generating) are still present. What’s also different are the sentences “Working on this” and “Putting it all together“ that appear on the screen as the user waits for the result.
This updated animation isn’t widely available yet
Thanks to the video submitted by the Reddit user, we also know that the phrase “Working on this” may be replaced by “Looking this up” in some cases. It’s unclear if there are more such phrases present to keep things fresh and avoid repetition. Coupled with the new color scheme and the onscreen text, this is definitely an upgrade over the current AI Overviews experience.
The updated loading animation is available in a limited capacity, so you likely won’t find it the next time you run a query on Google. However, this is likely related to Google’s recent Gemini 2.0 announcement, where the company said it was testing the new model in AI Overviews. It was also said at the time that this test would be carried out in a limited capacity. With these factors in mind, it’s hard to tell when (or if) Google will make this widely available to all users.
Google accelerated its AI efforts towards the end of 2022, leading to the release of Bard chatbot (later renamed Gemini) in early 2023. Earlier this year, Google officially rolled out AI Overviews after working on it for several months. However, it was far from perfect during the early weeks of its availability. Thankfully, Google didn’t take long to fix those issues and improve AI Overviews’ overall quality, thus making it a viable alternative to the conventional Google Search experience.