Google's AI Mode can now build playlists and grocery lists from Search

Google has added connected app integrations to AI Mode in Search, letting US users complete tasks — designing a flyer, building a playlist, filling a grocery cart — without leaving the search results page. The rollout began this week, per the Google official blog. It's the most direct move yet to make Google Search a task-completion layer rather than just a link directory.

How it works

Three services are live at launch. Connect YouTube Music and you can ask AI Mode to generate a playlist by mood, genre, or occasion; Gemini assembles the tracks and offers to open them in the app. Link Canva and the AI can draft a design template — say, a party flyer — pulling in details from your Google Calendar. Tie in Instacart and it will build a shopping list or add items to your cart based on a query or upcoming event, like a backyard barbecue.

These integrations expand on Personal Intelligence, which Google launched earlier in 2026 to connect AI Mode with Gmail, Photos, and Calendar, reports Engadget. The connected apps idea takes that concept to third-party services. Google says more partners are coming.

The catch for UK users

AI Mode is available in the UK, but the connected apps feature is US-only at this stage. No timeline has been announced for a UK rollout. That means British users can use AI Mode's core search and summarisation tools — including its Reddit integration and support for images, files, and Chrome tabs — but not the app connections that are now the headline feature in the US.

There are also unanswered questions about data. Canva and Instacart are third-party companies; it's not yet clear how they receive user data from Search or what consent controls will look like when the feature does arrive in other markets. YouTube Music, by contrast, is Google-owned — which raises a separate question about whether Google's own services get preferential placement over competitors like Spotify.

What comes next

Google's direction is clear: Search as a hub where you don't just find information, you act on it. ChatGPT's plugin ecosystem already allows multi-app workflows of this kind, so the competitive pressure is real. Whether connected apps reach UK and European users soon — and how regulators respond when they do — will define how far Google can push this model outside the US.