Google AI’s blockbuster Google I/O keynote speech has ended, but Gemini still has a long way to go to turn Google’s AI dream into reality. While many of Google's AI features will take months to roll out, the AI Overview feature is already available to all U.S. users.
Google will only add more AI features to search pages in the future. This includes being able to ask longer, more complex questions and even using artificial intelligence to organize the entire search page into different sections. If this sounds like it's too much for you, there are some things you can do about it.
Turn off AI in Google Search
Along with all the new AI features it's releasing, Google is also launching something that will help you travel back in time -- a long time ago. There's now an easy-to-miss new button at the top of the search results page simply called " Web ." If you switch to it, Google will only show you text links from websites, just like in the good old days (although these may include sponsored ads).
The irony of having to press a button called "Web" to get web search results is not lost on me. Still, this will be a useful feature for those who prefer the old-fashioned method of Google search, which only shows you the top results from across the web consisting of trusted websites.
Starting today and tomorrow, the web filter is rolling out to global desktop and mobile searches, so you'll see it in searches soon. If you don't find it in the toolbar, click the "More" menu and it should be there.
When you switch to the web filter, your search results will also have any type of media or pull-out boxes removed. You won't see sections for images, videos, or Google News articles. Instead, you'll only see links (which themselves can point to YouTube videos or news articles) based on a Google search for a contact's post on X.
Google also confirmed to The Verge that the web filter will remain this way even as it continues to add more AI features to the Google Search homepage.
Artificial intelligence is unstoppable
While the web filter is nice, it's not the default option and you'll always need to manually switch to it (just like you do when switching to the image or map filters). This step also clarified something else: Google doesn't offer a way to turn off the AI search feature in the default search page. Maybe we'll eventually see a Chrome extension that changes the Google search page, but for now, the only way to get rid of Google's search AI is to switch to web filters.
