Skip to the guide
Help Center

Research a question with AI Mode

Guides by goal 4 min read Beginner Updated

On this page
  1. Ask a good first question
  2. Check the sources
  3. Ask follow-ups
  4. Go deeper on the News tab
  5. Common questions

This guide is for a question that takes more than one search, such as how heat pumps cope with winter or what changed in mortgage rates this month. You ask AI Mode, check the articles behind its answer, keep asking, and then read the coverage yourself on the News tab.

AI Mode is on the sites where AI answers are turned on; it is the first tab in the row of services.

#Ask a good first question

  1. Select the AI Mode tab.

    AI Mode before the first question: the AI Mode tab, starter questions, the message box with its message counter, and the latest news results in a column on the right

    AI Mode before the first question. The starter questions differ from site to site.

    1. 1The AI Mode tab
    2. 2Starter questions
    3. 3Your message box
    4. 4Messages used in this chat
    5. 5News results beside the chat

  2. Type a full question in the box that reads Ask anything…, with the place, the date or the people when they matter, for example What has happened to 30-year mortgage rates this month?

  3. Press Enter. The first time, select Allow AI answers: nothing is sent until you do.

  4. Watch it work: Searching the site's news, Reading the best articles, then Thinking, before the answer appears.

Asking for a format helps too: "in three bullet points", "as a table". See Get better answers.

#Check the sources

The small numbers in the answer are citations. Each points to one of the articles listed in the Sources box under the answer, which says how many it cited and how many it read, up to six.

Under an AI Mode answer: the Sources box with the numbered articles it read, search chips, Ask next questions, and the Copy, Share, Listen, Regenerate and search buttons

The Sources box under an answer, listed in the order the answer first cites them.

  1. 1How many articles were cited and read
  2. 2A source: select it to open the article
  3. 3Search the same words on this site
  4. 4Questions to ask next
  5. 5Copy, share, listen, regenerate
  1. Find the claim that matters to you and note its number.
  2. Select the number, or the source, to open the article. Does it say that, and how recent is it?
  3. Treat a sentence with no number with more care: it comes from the model's general knowledge, not from an article it read.

A citation tells you where a sentence came from, not that it is true. See Sources and citations.

#Ask follow-ups

Type the next question in the box, which now reads Ask a follow-up…, or select one under Ask next. A short follow-up such as What about in very cold places? is read with the conversation so far, and its search reuses words from your earlier question.

The News results column after a follow-up: a row of the searches made in this chat, a line saying what was searched for the follow-up, and the result cards

After a follow-up, the column beside the chat shows what was searched, and the other searches from this chat.

  1. 1What was searched: words from both questions
  2. 2The searches from this chat
  • A chat holds 10 messages. The counter beside the send button shows how many you have used.
  • To change the subject, ask a complete question, or select New chat.
  • Before a new chat, select Save to keep the conversation as a file. The chat itself lives only in this browser tab.

See Follow-up questions and the results column.

#Go deeper on the News tab

The column beside the chat shows the News results for your last question. Select Open in News to run the same search on the full News page.

  1. Choose how far back to look in the date menu, for example 7 days, or leave it on Auto.

  2. Choose a length, such as 500+ words, to keep longer reads rather than briefs.

  3. If you need an exact phrase or a name, switch the match menu to a (Text) option and put the phrase in quotes.

    The filter row on the News tab: the date menu set to Auto, Published, the match menu, minimum words and sentiment

    The filter row on the News tab: date, Published or Discovered, match, length and Sentiment.

    1. 1Date: how far back to look
    2. 2Published or Discovered
    3. 3Match: meaning, text or both
    4. 4Minimum words
    5. 5Sentiment

  4. On a story that matters, select Full coverage to see how other outlets reported it.

See Narrow results with filters, Meaning, text or both and Check how a story is covered.

#Common questions

Can I rely on the answer?

Treat it as a starting point. AI answers can be wrong, out of date or incomplete, and say so. Read the sources for anything that matters, and for health, money, law or safety, ask a qualified professional.

Does AI Mode search the whole web?

Its answers are built from the site's own news index. Web results under an answer runs your question as a Web search.

Can I come back to my chat tomorrow?

Not on 4Search: the chat is gone when you close the tab. Select Save or Copy before you leave.

Read next

AI answers AI Mode: ask, follow up, and read the sources AI Mode is a conversation with an AI assistant that searches the site's news for each question, cites what it read, and keeps the results beside the chat. AI answers Sources and citations in AI Mode How AI Mode picks the articles it reads, what the numbers in an answer mean, and how to use the Sources box to check what you are told. AI answers Follow-up questions and the results column How AI Mode understands a follow-up, how each question is searched, and how to use the News results column beside the chat. AI answers Get better answers from AI Mode Practical ways to ask AI Mode questions so the answers are more specific, better sourced and easier to check. Searching Narrow results with filters Use the date, match, length and sentiment menus to cut a search down to the articles you want, and learn how the All tab applies them. Searching Full coverage and Related Coverage Find other outlets' reports on a story with one click, narrow that to a topic, or follow the people and places a story names.