Googling isn’t what it used to be: How AI took over search (and what you can do about it)
Somewhere along the way, Googling stopped being just… Googling. You type in a question, and instead of scrolling through a bunch of links, you’re met with a big AI-written summary that acts like it already did the homework for you. It’s fast. It’s polished. And apparently, this is what searching the internet looks like in 2026.
Behind that box are years of Google quietly baking artificial intelligence into everything, from Search and Translate to Gmail, Maps, and its latest model, Gemini. This leads to a pretty simple question: can you still use Google without all the AI stuff, or is that just… how Google works now?Googling now comes with a side of AI!by Manar – Reading time: 5 min.
When people ask “what is Google’s artificial intelligence?” they’re usually imagining one giant system running everything. In reality, Google uses a mix of different AI models across its products, but the one most users notice right now is the feature sitting at the top of search results: AI Overviews. These summaries are powered by Google’s flagship model, Gemini AI, and they’re designed to answer questions directly instead of just pointing you to websites.
Google didn’t suddenly flip a switch and add generative AI to Search. It’s been experimenting with machine-learning systems for years, starting with RankBrain in 2015 and later rolling out language models like BERT and MUM to better understand natural-language queries. The big shift came in 2023, when Gemini and other generative tools started showing up inside Search itself, eventually turning into the AI-written boxes now sitting front and center on many results pages.
When an AI Overview appears, Google’s systems still rank web pages behind the scenes, but Gemini layers on top, pulling information from multiple sources and generating a short explanation in real time. At the same time, Google’s artificial intelligence is working everywhere else too, from Translate and Gmail to Maps, Ads, Photos, and Assistant. AI has always been part of how Google works; AI Overviews just made it impossible to ignore.
Fun fact: Google owns one of the world’s most famous AI labs
In 2014, Google acquired a London-based research company called DeepMind, which later merged with Google Brain to form Google DeepMind. The lab is behind some of the most headline-grabbing moments in AI history, including AlphaGo defeating a world champion at the game Go and AlphaFold solving the decades-old problem of predicting protein structures.
AI Overviews are Google’s newest way of answering questions directly inside the search results page. Instead of just showing links, Google artificial intelligence now generates a short write-up at the very top of the screen (what SEO people call “position zero”). They started as an experiment called the Search Generative Experience at Google I/O in 2023 and rolled out more widely in 2024 in the United States, with global expansion following soon after.
Each overview usually includes a short summary written by Google’s Gemini AI, a few key points, and a set of linked websites underneath. You can expand it to see more detail or more sources, which are typically pulled from pages already ranking well in normal results. Unlike featured snippets, which copy text from one page, AI Overviews create brand-new summaries by pulling information from several sites and stitching it together.
And because these boxes sit above everything else, including ads, maps, and the classic ten blue links, they’re now the first thing people see. For a lot of searches, that means users get their answer without clicking anywhere. Love it or hate it, AI Overviews have quietly become one of the biggest changes Google Search has made in years.
Believe it or not, not everyone is thrilled about AI taking over the top of Google results. And that seems to be for many reasons:
AI can reduce traffic to real websites. When an AI-generated summary answers the question right at the top of the page, users are much less likely to click through to the sites those answers are based on. One study found that users who saw an AI summary clicked on traditional search links far less often than those who didn’t.
Accuracy issues and “hallucinations” still happen. AI doesn’t truly understand facts; it predicts likely text based on patterns. That means it can confidently present incorrect or misleading info, even combining facts in ways that aren’t true. AI Overviews have also been shown to draw from a wide mix of sources, including YouTube, Wikipedia, and Reddit, which aren’t always the most reliable places to get precise or authoritative information, especially for complex or high-stakes topics.
Misleading results can have real consequences. Investigations have found that Google’s AI Overviews sometimes give incorrect or even dangerous health information, like advising pancreatic cancer patients to avoid high-fat foods (which contradicts clinical guidance) or presenting misleading liver test ranges that could falsely reassure someone their results are normal. Although Google initially denied these claims, it later removed some of the problematic summaries and said it would improve the feature when context was missing. Health experts, however, continue to warn that inaccurate medical answers are still appearing in AI Overviews.
Environmental costs add up quickly. AI Overviews are powered by Google’s Gemini AI and require dramatically more computing than normal keyword searches. Researchers estimate that generating AI text can use dozens of times more energy than pulling existing results. Experts warn this extra demand means more electricity-hungry data centers, more water used for cooling, and rising emissions, especially as Google pushes AI answers to billions of users.
Recommended reading: Want to make your internet habits greener? Check out our guide to more sustainable digital habits and lowering your carbon footprint.
At the moment, Google doesn’t give users a simple on-off switch to permanently disable AI Overviews in search. If the feature shows up for a query, there’s no official setting that lets you fully use Google without AI or remove generative summaries across the board.
Google has said the rollout and appearance of AI Overviews depend on things like location, language, and the type of query. However, for everyday users, that still means the summaries can pop up whether you asked for them or not. That lack of clear control is one of the reasons the feature has sparked so much debate.
So, for anyone wondering “can I use Google without AI?” the honest answer right now is: not completely. AI Overviews are part of the standard Google search experience, and avoiding them isn’t something Google officially supports with a single toggle.
Although there’s no official way to opt out of AI Overviews, there are a few ways you can try to limit how often they appear, or at least push them out of the way while you’re searching.
They’re not perfect fixes, and Google could change how any of them work at any time, but if you’re looking to Google without AI as much as possible, these workarounds are a good place to start:
Use the “Web” filter when it appears. Clicking the “Web” tab removes many special features and can sometimes hide AI Overviews. The “Web” tab appears at the top of results pages, alongside things like “All,” “Images,” “News,” etc. If you don’t see it, you can also click on “More” to look for it there.
Add “-ai” to your search query. Some users report that typing something like “best running shoes -ai” makes Google less likely to trigger an AI summary (we’ve tested this hack ourselves, and it seems to work, but results may vary).
Change the date range. Setting results to end before the current year can sometimes avoid triggering AI-generated boxes (though you’ll miss newer pages). To do this, click “Tools” at the top of the results page, hover over “Any time,” and then select “Past year.”
Use Incognito or log out of your account. This can reduce personalization and sometimes change whether AI features appear. This method, however, seems to be less effective than the previous ones.
Use advanced search operators. Adding special characters to your query can force Google to be more literal instead of guessing what you mean. For example, quotation marks ("climate change report") lock Google into an exact phrase, and “site:” lets you search only one website (like site:mail.com or bbc.com). These tricks don’t disable AI entirely, but they can sometimes reduce how often AI Overviews appear.
If you’d rather not wrestle with settings and workarounds every time you search, the simplest option is switching search engines altogether. Most Google alternatives still use some machine learning behind the scenes, but many are less aggressive about pushing generative AI summaries to the top of results. So, for people wondering how to Google without AI or how to search Google without AI as much as possible, trying another engine is often the most straightforward move.
Here are a few popular options people turn to when they want a more traditional search experience:
mail.com Search offers a built-in web search tool inside its email platform and homepage, and, unlike Google, doesn’t generate AI-written summaries at the top of results. It sticks to classic link-based listings, with filters for language, location, and date.
DuckDuckGo emphasizes privacy and shows mostly traditional link-based results. It has added optional AI tools, but they’re separate from standard search and easier to avoid than Google’s built-in AI Overviews. However, DuckDuckGo does not track or profile users, meaning results aren’t personalized in the same way Google’s are.
Ecosia uses the Microsoft Bing index for results and directs a portion of its revenue to tree-planting and sustainability projects. While it also offers an AI Search option, it gives users the choice to stick with traditional results.
Brave Search operates its own index and is often cited alongside other privacy-minded engines. It focuses on not tracking personal data and giving users a search experience with fewer personalized signals than Google.
Startpage essentially shows Google search results but acts as a privacy intermediary, meaning you get access to Google’s index without tying searches to an individual identity. Because it delivers traditional links in a proxy format, it generally doesn’t show AI Overviews the way Google.com does, even though it relies on similar underlying sources.
These won’t work for everyone, but if your goal is a more old-school search experience with fewer AI summaries, they’re worth experimenting with.
Recommended Reading: If you want to go deeper, we’ve also put together a guide to using ChatGPT, plus another article on how AI is changing the way people do research online.
At this point, AI is basically part of the deal when you use Google. The summaries at the top, the way results are ranked, the shortcuts to answers, it’s all being shaped by systems you never really asked for, but probably run into every day.
Some people love that. Others… not so much. Between wrong answers popping up, websites losing traffic, environmental concerns, and the lack of a simple off switch, many users are starting to rethink how they search. You can tweak things, try a few workarounds, switch engines, or even go further and start de-Googling your life entirely if you want to step away from the ecosystem altogether. Either way, AI-powered search is here. The real question is how much of it you’re willing to live with showing up in your everyday browsing.
FAQ: Using Google without AI
1. What is Google's artificial intelligence?
Google uses artificial intelligence across Search, Translate, Gmail, Maps, and more. In Search, the most visible feature is AI Overviews, powered by its Gemini model, which summarizes answers at the top of results.
2. Does Google Search use artificial intelligence?
Yes. Google uses AI to understand queries, rank pages, fight spam, and now generate AI-written summaries in results.
3. When did Google start using AI?
Google began using machine learning in Search long before generative AI became popular, most notably in 2015 with RankBrain. However, AI-written summaries and conversational answers only started appearing widely in Search in 2024, following public tests announced in 2023.
4. Can I use Google without AI?
Not completely. At the moment, Google doesn’t offer a universal setting to turn off AI features like AI Overviews. You can still scroll past them and rely on traditional links, but there’s no official “disable AI” switch for everyday users.
5. How to Google without AI?
You can’t remove them permanently, but some users reduce how often they appear by:
- Clicking the “Web” filter in search results
- Adding “-ai” to queries
- Using quotation marks or site-specific searches
- Limiting date ranges
- Searching while logged out or in Incognito mode
These methods aren’t guaranteed, but they sometimes push AI Overviews out of view.
6. Does Google Translate use artificial intelligence?
Yes. Google Translate relies heavily on neural-network-based AI systems to convert languages more naturally than older rule-based translation software.
7. Are there search engines with less AI than Google?
Yes, several popular alternatives focus more on traditional link-based results, including:
- DuckDuckGo: Privacy-focused, with optional AI tools - Ecosia: Sustainability-driven, offers classic search results - Brave Search: Runs its own index and limits tracking - Startpage: Shows Google-based results through a privacy proxy
They still use some automation behind the scenes but usually don’t push generative summaries as aggressively.
If you found this article helpful, please leave us some feedback below. 😊 And if you’re still looking for a free email account, why not sign up for free today?
