Is Google about to destroy the web?

BBC ^ | 06 13 2025 | Thomas Germain

[yesthatjallen]

SNIP

On 20 May 2025, Google's chief executive Sundar Pichai walked on stage at the company's annual developer conference. It's been a year since the launch of AI Overviews, the AI-generated responses you've probably seen at the top of Google Search results. Now, Pichai said, Google is going further. "For those who want an end-to-end AI Search experience, we are introducing an all-new AI Mode," he said. "It's a total reimagining of Search."

You might be sceptical after years of AI hype, but this, for once, is the real deal.

"If Google makes AI Mode the default in its current form, it's going to have a devastating impact on the internet" – Lily Ray

People use Google Search five trillion times a year – it defines the shape of the internet. AI Mode is a radical departure. Unlike AI Overviews, AI Mode replaces traditional search results altogether. Instead, a chatbot effectively creates a miniature article to answer your question. As you read this, AI Mode is rolling out to users in the US, appearing as a button on the search engine and the company's app. It's optional for now, but Google's head of Search, Liz Reid, said it plainly when launching the tool: "This is the future of Google Search."

Here's the problem critics foresee – AI Overviews already sends much less traffic to the rest of the internet, and many fear AI Mode could supercharge that trend. If this comes to pass, it could crush the business model that's fuelled the digital content you've enjoyed for almost 30 years.

SNIP

[Governor Dinwiddie]

#19: "Most libraries don’t have card catalogs."

The last time I was at the library they had card catalogs.

[linMcHlp]

Computer user’s choosing convenience over privacy and security . . . leads to “convenience and security” defined and controlled by the socialist conglomerate.

[TexasGator]

“The last time I was at the library they had card catalogs.”

From your posts, that was a long time ago. Once in high school?

[butlerweave]

Searching is a waste of time these days you get the same garbage now and it doesn’t matter what search engine you use

[Tellurian]

“Here’s what you need to know”

[Governor Dinwiddie]

No. It was the library and chart house of the Starship Enterprise.

[piasa]

Exactly. I search because I don’t want a quick summary, I am usually looking for rare little known nuggets and details.

[Owen]

You will get no value from AI if you do stupid things, like ask it what color is God’s hair.

If you want value from it, ask what is the population of Hawaii. It will give you a number and it will cite footnotes you can check yourself as to where it got that number.

AI asked factual questions will get you an answer in 1/1000th the time you could have looked it up yourself. That is it’s value. It surfs the web fast. Faster than you ever could.

If you ask what color is God’s hair, you don’t really care that it went out and found 10 websites that can’t possibly know and quoted them.

If you ask the velocity of an object orbiting at 22,000 miles it will give you an answer if that orbit is circular, and it will probably explain about the circular question.

But if you’re going to ask it to write a fictional story, you’re just wasting bandwidth.

[StAnDeliver]

Google would cut their own throat to make a buck, and since GoogleAds provide the bulk of their revenue, that's exactly what they will do.

The founders are creeps, culture of death, they don't hire anyone in c-suite who would dare oppose them.

OpenAI likely comes up with not just the killer app but the killer platform -- in spite of M$loth's seed investment -- and GOOG is gone in 5 years.

AI is about to change everything. If you're in tech, you know it already. If you're not in tech, gird your loins...

[RandFan]

My friends call it “AI SLOP” the amount of writing and blogs etc automating (it’s obvious)

[TexasGator]

“No, I understand AI.”

No you don’t. You said AI preaches to you. You have a very narrow perception of AI. It is much more than a chat box.

You can access a free AI site where you can teach AI to respond as you desire.

[GaltAdonis]

I use the DuckDuckGo search engine anyway.
And I don’t use Google Chrome, nor IE ever - for years.
And now that I think of it, I haven’t used a Windows computer for many months either.

I use Linux boxes and an Apple IPAD sometimes for some things.
My last Windows 11 machine died a while ago, and have not felt the need to replace it. Yet.

[TexasGator]

“No. It was the library and chart house of the Starship Enterprise.”

Grow up.

[MayflowerMadam]

Alta Vista was great.

[Governor Dinwiddie]

#26: "Grow up."

Sober up.

[Fuzz]

‘ The last time I was at the library they had card catalogs.’

So it’s been a couple decades?

[GaltAdonis]

On July 8, 2013, the service AltaVista was shut down by Yahoo!
Which had previously purchased it.

Just posting this because I didn’t know.
I was wondering what ever happened to it.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Advertisements have ALREADY destroyed the web.

My ad blockers aren’t very effective any more. Brave does a good job. The “Reader” view in Safari does a pretty good job, but not as good as Brave.

[cableguymn]

They don’t care. They show you what they want you to know/think.

[Ezekiel]

"You will get no value from AI if you do stupid things, like ask it what color is God’s hair."

Hairlarious! I did that:

what color is God’s hair

AI Overview

In religious texts and interpretations, God's hair is often described as white, like wool or snow. This description is primarily found in the Book of Revelation, where John describes a vision of the Son of Man with hair like white wool, according to the Bible. This imagery is also found in the Book of Daniel, where God is described with hair like pure wool.

***

It came up short for not providing an image, but because this was so inspiring, I'll post one here: