# AI Search and Research

Many workflows and agents require the ability to dynamically Search Google or do broader AI-powered research on a topic. For example, you may want to do search for information about a company that fills out a prospect interest form. To achieve this, you have two basic options:

1\) Search Google and analyze the results

2\) Use an AI-model with built-in Search

## Using Google Search

To initiate a Google Search in a workflow, you can use the 'Search Google' step, which is in both the AI and Web scraping menus:

<figure><img src="https://647519108-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FXkKoEy3xMIYaIwd4mRAB%2Fuploads%2FdIcLWS76H1SbxXw7fUWr%2FScreenshot%202025-07-04%20at%202.59.55%E2%80%AFPM.png?alt=media&#x26;token=2ec14797-0c44-4512-904b-b1619e9cc613" alt=""><figcaption><p>The Search Google step</p></figcaption></figure>

Once you've selected 'Search Google', you just need to specific your query and the number of results to return and / or scrape. Your query will typically be formulated from the ouptuts of previous steps (see [step-outputs](../data/step-outputs "mention") for more information).

<figure><img src="https://647519108-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FXkKoEy3xMIYaIwd4mRAB%2Fuploads%2FBybC8J7r0h0X4FoocWzS%2FScreenshot%202025-07-04%20at%203.04.14%E2%80%AFPM.png?alt=media&#x26;token=95cd07b4-ae94-4ba3-afba-ff9092ead0e6" alt="" width="375"><figcaption><p>Seetting up a "Search Google" step.</p></figcaption></figure>

After your Search Google step, you'll typically need to use an [AI Step](ai-steps) to process the results and extract the information you want.

## Using AI Search (Perplexity, ChatGPT, etc)

Alternatively, if you want to delegate more to AI, you can use an AI model with built-in search to do a prompt-based search. To do this, set up a standard 'Prompt any model' AI step and be sure to select a model with built-in search. This includes all of the Perplexity models, and a subset of the OpenAI and Google Gemini models.

<figure><img src="https://647519108-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FXkKoEy3xMIYaIwd4mRAB%2Fuploads%2FvMcUM74Mgcj2umqclj8d%2FScreenshot%202025-07-04%20at%203.09.34%E2%80%AFPM.png?alt=media&#x26;token=c762a0bd-43cf-4fc0-b229-831e921397ac" alt=""><figcaption><p>An AI step with built-in search</p></figcaption></figure>

