@paninid The image is a split-panel comparison showing a humorous contrast between search results "then" versus "now." On the left side, labeled "...THEN" with the text "SEARCH RESULTS:", there is a single purple box containing the text "THE THING YOU WANT". On the right side, labeled "...NOW" with the text "SEARCH RESULTS:", there is a series of boxes stacked vertically. These boxes contain the following text: "AI NONSENSE.", three boxes labeled "SPONSORED RESULT", a box labeled "PEOPLE ALSO ASK", and a box labeled "VIEW PRODUCTS". Below the "VIEW PRODUCTS" box are four smaller, square boxes with a small icon of a shopping cart in each.

The entire image is drawn in a simple, cartoonish style with thin black lines and a minimal color palette of purple, blue, and white. The contrast highlights a perceived shift in search engine results towards more AI-generated content and advertisements.

Provided by @altbot, generated privately and locally using Gemma3:27b

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@paninid

Not entirely true; google has been unusable ever since they laughed off the pledge 'Don't be evil', and succumbed to the cash addiction of advertising.

At that point, the potential for good search results became the opportunity for them to push ads into the stream; and as there was no real competition in the space, it was a highly successful strategy that has re-enforced their bad choices.

At that point, they were compromised capitalists, and as such, money became the one and only concern.

AI is just that same compromise to the 10 power with a handful of steroids.

@paninid I have large monitor. I can see 'the thing I want' at the bottom of the screen and then some.

Clearly Google should update their policy to add more shit at the top.

@paninid

is there a recommended daily allowance for fuq Google/Amazon ??

@paninid The original art is probably by @chazhutton (although I can't find a publicly available source to link to).

Edit: found the source: https://www.instagram.com/p/DDbmv-yNijL

@paninid It’s a nice bit of nostalgia but it was rarely true, and that for only a brief time. In the early days the information was probably not online yet, or hadn’t been indexed. Then so called “search engine optimization” filled the results with nonsense and Google became an ad broker. Long before AI slop, ads had filled the results page.

But before the slop you could usually find what you wanted on the first page at least.

@paninid

What did we think would happen when Google accepted money from #PrinceBonesaw ?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-06/google-thiel-stand-out-in-saudi-prince-s-silicon-valley-tour

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/07/heres-a-look-at-who.html

https://www.businessinsider.com/saudi-arabia-crown-prince-mohammed-bin-salman-us-trip-meetings-2018-3

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-05-13/google-backs-saudi-ai-fund-as-trump-mbs-tout-new-investments

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-saudi-arabia-mbs-visit/

@paninid

https://youtu.be/k0kgIK44XWg?si=7ozitJOI08nklEA9

@paninid

Exactly…

@paninid use maapl
https://maapl.net/

#ElbowsUp

@paninid
@gregeganSF

Now I feel better when people use "google" as a verb, because now it means something very different from "search the Internet".

@paninid
Did anyone really use that Google button "I'm feeling lucky" back then?

For me, that never worked. The needed search result was always somewhere else, admittedly in the top 10 results.

On the other hand, the AI summaries in Google or DDG today have a higher 50% probability of being useful to me.

But maybe that's the brain rot that has already started on my side, though 😅

@paninid

https://startpage.com anyone?