Google Search AI connects apps for tasks

Personal Intelligence began as a beta for Google AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers in the US in February 2026, then expanded across AI Mode in Search, the Gemini app and Gemini in Chrome the following month, reaching free-tier users on personal Google accounts. Google has repeatedly framed the feature around transparency, choice and control. Users decide if and when to connect an app and can switch those connections off at any time, and Google has said Gemini and AI Mode do not train directly on a user’s Gmail inbox or Google Photos library. The connected third-party apps now arriving in Search follow the same opt-in logic. The first time a service is linked, the user controls the connection.

AI Mode itself runs on Gemini. Google made Gemini 3 available in AI Mode in January 2026, the first time it had brought a Gemini model to Search on launch day, and later made Gemini 3 the default model for AI Overviews globally. The connected-apps feature is the action layer sitting on top of that reasoning.

What OpenAI has been building, and why it matters here

While Google brings apps into Search, OpenAI has been bringing them into ChatGPT, and Singapore has had a front-row view.

In May 2026, Skyscanner launched its app in the ChatGPT App Store, bringing its flight-comparison engine to the AI platform. The mechanics echo what Google is now describing for Search. A traveller installs the Skyscanner app, then prompts it conversationally, something along the lines of “@skyscanner find me the cheapest flight from Singapore to New York in December”, and live flight results appear inside the chat, ready to be refined by adjusting dates, airports or destinations. Bookings are completed on Skyscanner’s own platform.

In June, Sea Limited and OpenAI signed a strategic partnership that integrated the Shopee app into ChatGPT, making Shopee the first e-commerce platform of its kind to appear in ChatGPT across Southeast Asia and Latin America. The Shopee app is available in ChatGPT for users in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam and Brazil. Shoppers describe what they are after in plain language, whether they’re looking for gift ideas, fashion inspiration or one very specific item, Shopee will surface recommendations inside the conversation before they carry on to checkout.

Denise Dresser, OpenAI’s Chief Revenue Officer, described the goal as meeting people where they already are and letting more of them put AI to work as an operating layer across their work. 

The shape of the contest

Read together, the two approaches describe the same destination reached from opposite starting points. OpenAI is turning a chatbot into a place to shop, book and build by inviting brands inside ChatGPT. Google is turning a search engine into the same kind of place by wiring brands into AI Mode. Both are betting that the future interface for getting things done is a conversation, and both are racing to be the surface on which that conversation happens.

For now, Google’s connected apps in Search are a US rollout limited to Canva, Instacart and YouTube, with more partners promised. When and how the feature will reach Singapore has not been confirmed. But Search is no longer being designed solely to help people find information. Google increasingly wants it to organise the request, involve the right services and help finish the job.