Eric Beatty Product Designer
Design Lead, AI in Google Search
Atlanta, GA

Eric Beatty

NowDesign Lead, Google Search
BeforeArt Director, Apple

Product designer. I lead design for AI in Google Search and designed SGE, AI Overviews and AI Mode from the first sketch to launch.

TeamResponse, Ecosystem, Generative UI, Interaction, Architecture
AI Mode2025–26
AI ModeGoogle Search
A new era for AI SearchI/O 2026
A new era for AI SearchI/O 2026
AI Overviews2024–26
AI OverviewsGoogle Search
SGE2023
SGESearch Labs
Shopping, ads and agents2023–25
Shopping, ads and agentsEcosystem
iPad Pro with Apple Pencilapple.com2015–18
apple.comApple
What I leadGoogle Search

One answer, five disciplines.

An AI answer in Search is a stack of design problems on one surface. My team owns them end to end, from the first prototype of a new product to the system it ships on.

Response

How an AI answer is composed: structure, hierarchy, citations and links back to the web, tuned so people can trust it at a glance.

Ecosystem

How AI in Search connects to the open web, merchants and advertisers, from shopping and virtual try-on to ads inside AI Overviews.

Generative UI

Interfaces the model builds for the question in front of it: charts, tables, tools and Canvas documents that didn't exist until you asked.

Interaction

Every way to ask and follow up: typing, voice, camera, file upload and real-time conversation with Search Live.

Architecture

The system underneath: how AI Overviews, AI Mode and classic results fit together, and how you move between them without losing context.

Case study2025 to now

AI Mode

Google's most powerful AI search. Ask anything, in any way, and keep going with follow-ups. We designed it to feel new from the first frame: a prompt that glows, answers that organize the web for you, and a conversation that remembers where you were. It went from a Labs experiment in March 2025 to every U.S. user two months later, then to new languages around the world.

Role
Design lead, 0 → 1
Surfaces
Mobile, desktop, app
Model
Custom Gemini
The AI Mode prompt
Introducing AI Mode in Labs, Mar 2025
Ask anything with AI Mode, set inside glowing spectral lines
Ask anything
Query fan-out, shown as it works
AI Mode alongside All results

Capabilities we shipped

Deep Search

Fully cited research reports in minutes.

Search Live

Talk back and forth, and share your camera.

Agentic tasks

Tickets and reservations, found and booked.

Custom charts

Complex analysis, visualized for your question.

Canvas

Draft documents and build tools right in Search.

Personal context

Answers tailored to your plans and preferences.

Ask any way

Type, talk, snap a photo or upload an image.

File upload

Ask about PDFs and images on desktop.

Trip planning

Itineraries built in Canvas.

Multimodal with Lens

Point your camera, ask a follow-up.

Google I/OMay 2026

A new era for AI Search

The next step in bringing together the best of a search engine with the best of AI. A reimagined search bar, one seamless flow from quick answer to deep conversation, information agents that keep watch for you, and generative interfaces built on the fly.

The reimagined search bar
Seamless AI search
Information agents
Generative UI, coded by an agent
Agentic booking
Case study2024 to 2026

AI Overviews

AI Overviews brought generative answers to the top of the results page for everyone in the U.S. in May 2024, then around the world. In January 2026 we closed the loop: ask a follow-up from any AI Overview and you move straight into a conversation in AI Mode, with your original context intact.

Role
Design lead
Launch
Google I/O 2024
Now
Gemini 3, worldwide
From AI Overview into AI Mode, Jan 2026
An elongated search bar reading Ask anything, ringed by spectral lines
Just ask anything
Everyday how-to
AI-organized results
Search with video
Case study2023

SGE, where it started

The Search Generative Experience was the first time Google put generative AI on the results page. Launched as a Search Labs experiment at I/O 2023, it introduced AI-powered overviews, suggested follow-ups and a conversational mode, and it became the foundation for AI Overviews and AI Mode.

Role
Designer, 0 → 1
Launch
Search Labs, May 2023
A generative answer for e-bikes, with shopping
SGE on mobile
SGE comparing two national parks for young kids and a dog
Comparing national parks
Hover-to-preview sources, Aug 2023
Ecosystem2023 to 2025

Shopping, ads and agents

AI answers only work if they keep people connected to the businesses behind them. We designed shopping in AI Mode, virtual try-on with your own photo, agentic checkout, and the places ads and brands show up inside AI Overviews and AI Mode.

Try it on, virtually
Shopping in AI Mode
Ads in AI Overviews
Flight Deals
Launch logNewest first

Shipped, in public.

Every launch below was announced on Google's blog, The Keyword. Black tags mark the ones I'd read first.

Before GoogleApple

Art direction for apple.com

As an Art Director at Apple I designed product launch pages for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple Music, iOS and macOS. Each tile links to the page as it shipped.

apple.com, 2016

macOS Sierra

Problem. Give a glimpse of everything the site offered while showing Siri on the Mac in a new light.

Solution. A cinematic reveal of Siri, plus a chapter navigation that previews each section before you click in.

apple.com, 2016

Apple Music

Problem. The site was too complex to show a brand-new interface simply.

Solution. One page of expandable sections, so people see everything at once and open what interests them.

ContactAtlanta, Georgia
@theericbeatty