Google's AI Mode now links Instacart, Canva, YouTube for task completion

Google announced Thursday that it is expanding AI Mode, its conversational search experience, to support direct integrations with user apps. The feature launches with three supported apps: Instacart, Canva, and YouTube.

The integration allows users to complete tasks without leaving AI Mode. In one example provided by Google, a user planning a barbecue can ask AI Mode to create a grocery list, then connect their Instacart account to add ingredients directly to a shopping cart and check out on Instacart's app or website. Another use case involves design work: users can ask Canva to show template options for a project like a flyer. A third example shows users curating a playlist in AI Mode and instantly saving it to YouTube Music.

The rollout is live in the U.S., and Google states it is working with a range of partners and plans to launch support for more apps soon. The announcement builds on a capability Google launched earlier this year at Google I/O, which enabled users to connect third-party apps to the Gemini app to complete tasks faster; that earlier implementation already supported Canva, OpenTable, Spark, Instacart, and additional partners.

Since AI Mode's launch in early 2025, Google has been steadily expanding its capabilities. Most recently, the company announced that AI Mode can help check whether items are in stock at nearby stores. Google has also added the ability for users to explore the web side-by-side with AI Mode responses, allowing them to compare details and ask follow-up questions while preserving search context. Earlier this year, Google launched "Personal Intelligence" on AI Mode, which enables the system to draw on users' Gmail and Google Photos data to deliver more individualized responses. These updates position AI Mode as a tool for both research and task execution, which Google expects will increase user reliance on the service for planning, shopping, and other everyday activities. The integration strategy also reflects a direct competitive move against OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude, both of which support app integrations.

Google's move to embed app integrations directly into AI Mode represents a strategic response to competitive pressure from OpenAI and Anthropic, both of which have already built similar task-completion features into their AI assistants. By allowing users to research, plan, and execute—all within a single conversational interface—Google is reducing the friction that typically requires switching between multiple applications. The initial lineup of Instacart, Canva, and YouTube reflects high-utility everyday tasks: shopping, design work, and entertainment curation.

This announcement is not entirely new territory for Google; the company had already introduced comparable integrations in the Gemini app at Google I/O earlier this year. However, extending these capabilities to AI Mode—Google's broader conversational search experience—signals an effort to make task completion feel native rather than siloed. The body notes that this follows a series of incremental improvements Google has made to AI Mode since its early 2025 launch, including inventory checking at nearby stores and the ability to explore the web alongside AI responses while maintaining search context. Earlier this year, Google also added "Personal Intelligence," which taps into users' Gmail and Google Photos for more personalized responses.