September 13, 2025 – By Vikas Kanungo
Google has announced the expansion of its AI Mode in Search to five new languages, including Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, and Brazilian Portuguese, extending its reach far beyond the English-first rollout. Powered by the Gemini 2.5 model, the update is designed not just for translation, but for contextual, culturally aware responses that align with local idioms, search behaviors, and content ecosystems. This marks a major step in the global AI race to localize user experience for billions of non-English speakers.Until now, Google’s AI Mode was primarily available in English across more than 180 countries. By adding Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, and Brazilian Portuguese, Google is broadening its footprint into some of the world’s most populous and digitally active markets. For India alone, where over 600 million internet users engage in regional languages more than English, the rollout represents a seismic shift in accessibility.
In practical terms, this means users asking questions in Hindi will now see AI-powered summaries and answers that better reflect local content sources, capture regional nuances, and provide culturally relevant insights. It’s not just about language accuracy; it’s about tailoring AI interactions to fit the expectations and lived realities of diverse communities. Google executives highlighted that the addition of these languages builds on the company’s push to make AI tools “globally inclusive” by integrating linguistic diversity at the core of product design. By using the Gemini 2.5 architecture, the system is better able to parse long queries, draw from multilingual sources, and generate nuanced answers that are both accurate and contextually appropriate.Industry observers note that this move responds to the increasing competitive pressure to dominate non-English markets. With rival platforms also localizing their AI models, the addition of Hindi and other languages is as much a strategic play for market share as it is a technological milestone.
Why It Matters Globally: AI adoption has long been skewed toward English-dominant geographies. By expanding into languages spoken across Asia and Latin America, Google is signaling that AI inclusion is now a mainstream expectation. This expansion opens opportunities for startups, content creators, and public service innovators who rely on language models that perform well in their own linguistic ecosystems. It also raises new policy questions on data sourcing, local representation in training datasets, and standards for evaluating AI in non-English contexts.
Author’s Analysis — Impact on the Indian AI Landscape:
For India’s AI practitioners, this development is both a wake-up call and a major opportunity. The dominance of English in AI models has long limited innovation in public services, agriculture advisories, healthcare, and education, where most citizens interact in regional languages. With Google now embedding Hindi AI support into everyday search, the market for multilingual datasets, local AI startups, and domain-specific Hindi/vernacular solutions will expand dramatically.
At the policy level, this aligns closely with India’s emphasis on Safe & Trusted AI and inclusive digital ecosystems under the IndiaAI Mission. It reinforces the urgency of investing in high-quality regional datasets, building benchmarks for Indian languages, and creating incentives for startups working in language AI. Practitioners who adapt quickly—by integrating multilingual support into their solutions—will find themselves well-positioned not just domestically, but in exporting inclusive AI solutions to other non-English markets.
