Google just made Canvas in AI Mode available to everyone in the U.S., and it’s a pretty significant step in the company’s push to turn Search into something far more than a place to look things up.​

For those unfamiliar, Canvas is a side panel that lives inside AI Mode — Google’s conversational search experience powered by Gemini. The idea is simple: instead of just getting answers, you get a persistent workspace where you can build on your ideas over multiple sessions. It was already available inside the Gemini app, but rolling it out through Google Search means it’s now in front of a dramatically larger audience.

What’s new this time around is the addition of creative writing and coding support. Previously, Canvas in AI Mode was mostly useful for organizing plans, like building travel itineraries or study schedules. Now, you can ask it to draft a full document, write a short story, or even spin up a working interactive tool — all without leaving the Search interface. Google says it runs on the Gemini 3 model architecture, which handles both the conversational side and the code generation underneath.

To actually use it, you head into AI Mode on Google Search, tap the plus (+) icon in the chat window, and select Canvas. From there, you just describe what you want to make. Google’s system pulls together real-time information from the web and its Knowledge Graph, then generates a prototype directly in that side panel. If you’re building something functional, like a small app, a dashboard, or a calculator, you can flip to the code view, test it out, and keep refining it through follow-up prompts.​

Early testers apparently got creative with it — one example Google highlighted was a dashboard that tracked academic scholarships, complete with deadlines and requirements all in one place. But the possibilities stretch well beyond that.

The bigger picture here is worth noting. Canvas has been Google’s quiet answer to tools like Notion AI, Claude’s Artifacts, or ChatGPT’s canvas feature — all of which let users create and refine content interactively rather than just reading AI-generated text. By baking this directly into Search, Google is essentially turning its most-used product into a full-on creation tool. And with the sheer scale of Google Search’s user base, that reach is something competitors can’t easily replicate.​

For now, Canvas in AI Mode is only available in the U.S. in English, so the rest of the world will have to wait — but given Google’s rollout patterns, a broader expansion is likely just a matter of time.