loric
evacideWhen I do a web search, I do not want Google to go to the websites for me, pull the information, and interpret it for me. I want it to give me a list of websites that I can read and evaluate myself because AI is frequently wrong: https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/19/google-search-as-you-know-it-is-over/
noplasticshower@evacide yup
⠠⠵ avuko@evacide why think when you can… “not think” I guess is the desired state?
Great thread on this whole thing, from an actual expert:
https://dair-community.social/@emilymbender/116604732852620824
Prof. Emily M. Bender(she/her) (@[email protected])
Wow some terrible reporting about Google's latest horrible ideas about how to distort information access in the name of "convenience" (or something): https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/19/google-search-as-you-know-it-is-over/ A short thread 🧵>>
Dynom@avuko @evacide that's a false dichotomy. Filtering lists of results isn't typically the goal of your search query, reading them to learn something is.
Changing the list of results with a summary of said results is merely reaching that information differently.
If the AI results become more factual over time and/or people learn to judge sources listed in the AI result (as they must now) it might become just more efficient.
Lots of ifs and buts, I'm aware, I just hope won't suck. 🤞
This shift means that “searching the web” will increasingly be performed by AI agents rather than humans. Instead, people will focus more on acting on the information those agents provide instead of manually clicking links. [My emphasis].
That they frame it as “clicking links” instead of processing information to create your own understanding and worldview, is a very smart and carefully constructed rhetorical trick.
Why spend your energy “clicking links”, which sounds like a useless and boring task, instead of working with the information they want to give you, within a context they control, exposed only to their ads and storylines, that you are then promised you can “act on”.
Like you have any grasp left on what you are acting on…
This whole thing is a worse kind of thought-control than whatever Orwell, Bradbury and Huxley ever came up with. Combined.
@avuko @evacide how it's presented for user interaction is certainly relevant.
I currently like how, for example, Lumo does it. It provides all sources used for information so that you can check it freely.
If searching doesn't become easier, the primary sources of information will become the channels that are the TikToks of this world.
I'm not convinced what the lesser evil is.
If something is summarised, people (actively excluding the neurospicy crowd here 😉) will not check unless you force them too. This is established fact. See news. See education. See politics. See science.
If people do not check, they do not actively engage. They build no knowledge about subjects.
They are left with opinions based on the (dis)information presented to them.
Anyway, no good will come from any of this. But you wouldn’t know it from looking it up on Google or seeing the news. And that’s exactly my point.
Norman Wilson
Elena Brescacin@evacide One more reason to degoogle (at least for what concerns searching)
The Psychotic Network Ferret
The Great Llama 
marc@TheGreatLlama @evacide @nuintari @kagihq Kagi gives me search. If I want AI I end my query with a ?
I do that maybe once every two or three months. I am extremely happy that the choice is mine to use or not.
I haven't played with kagi assistant so can't say how that fits into the scheme of things.
@TheGreatLlama @evacide @nuintari @kagihq if you can, please do use paid services, because those businesses could really use your business most likely.
However there are ample search engines that are more privacy focussed and (mostly) sans AI: startpage.com, search.brave.com and the already mentioned DuckDuckGo.
@dynom @TheGreatLlama @evacide @kagihq
Except both Startpage and DuckDuckGo have terrible results, and Brave...... no one should use Brave anything.
@nuintari @dynom @evacide @kagihq
Yep, I've tried all the free options and none of them are great. As sad as it is to say, Google was still producing better results while pouring all their effort into AI. And Google from fifteen years ago makes all of it look like a joke.
And fuck Brave, seriously. There are enough options, there's no reason to support open right wing cranks.
@TheGreatLlama @nuintari @evacide @kagihq I've been using alternative search engines for years and honestly i never looked back.
Google personalises results, perhaps that's the thing that makes the search results more relevant. But the entire profiling thing is what's bothering me.
Perhaps it's something that you need to get used to?
@dynom @TheGreatLlama @evacide @kagihq
Google profiles you based on every search, and every link you click on.
Kagi deliverers search results based on what you typed in, nothing more.
Do what with that you will do..
@nuintari @dynom @evacide @kagihq
I locked out as much of Google's personalization as I could, I audit the settings for changes fairly regularly, and I've been using the udm14 version since they started pushing AI.
It's not personalization, it's a matter of result quality. DDG, Startpage, Bing, whatever... They're all even more awash with irrelevant crap than Google for the kind of deep dive searches I tend to do. Trust me, I've been TRYING to move away from them for quite some time..
@nuintari @dynom @evacide @kagihq
Honestly, what has kept me away from Kagi is that I find their pricing structure obnoxious. I don't mind paying, but I'd gladly trade away access to their "AI Assistant" for enough searches that I won't hit the wall when I go on a deep dive on something. Meanwhile, the Pro level seems a bit high for a limit I'll only hit occasionally. It's like they borrowed their pricing structure from a 2000s era cell phone company
Honestly, what has kept me away from Kagi is that I find their pricing structure obnoxious. I don't mind paying, but I'd gladly trade away access to their "AI Assistant" for enough searches that I won't hit the wall when I go on a deep dive on something. Meanwhile, the Pro level seems a bit high for a limit I'll only hit occasionally. It's like they borrowed their pricing structure from a 2000s era cell phone company
@nuintari @dynom @evacide @kagihq
I'm also skeptical about their level of privacy protection when push really comes to shove. They're a US company, so if our FBI decides you're a terrorist because you acknowledge the existence of trans people, I don't see them providing any more protection than Google, but at least they'll have your credit card info to absolutely confirm your identity.
Sorry for the rant, but this isn't my first rodeo on this topic and I find it incredibly frustrating.
@TheGreatLlama @dynom @evacide @kagihq
Seriously, try Kagi.....
@nuintari @TheGreatLlama @evacide @kagihq no thanks, im trying to avoid ECPA, FISA and the former PATRIOT mandates.
@dynom @TheGreatLlama @evacide @kagihq
Yes, those laws suck.....
But I'm not gonna fight everything, all the time. I don't have the energy.
Kagi gives me decent search results.
My point is: PICK YOUR BATTLES.
DeltaWye@DeltaWye I pay $14/month for unlimited queries for Kim and myself. She gets her own preferences/blocked domains, etc.
❤️ It's Gonna Be Maystodon 💚
Nick Kerker 
@evacide at my work if you use Edge or Chrome, an admin policy prevents changing the search engine from Google. I can't really use Firefox because 1) Threatlocker prevents me from installing extensions and 2) admin policies prevent me from copying text out of Service Now and other apps.
I've been lobbying for awhile to allow us to change search engines so hopefully this gets that moving.
Dennis Plöger@evacide that's why I first moved to Ecosia and then -because they're doing AI now, too - on to Qwant. I hope they won't integrate AI at some point. 🙄
Julie Hughes@evacide Why are you still using Google?
scrivyYou can easily remove the AI Overview...
https://hachyderm.io/@scrivy/116536252469319380
scrivy (@[email protected])
You can prepend your browser's #google search engine query with -ai+ to remove the "AI Overview": https://www.google.com/search?q=-ai+%s #noai #firefox
Niko Trimmel
Nu Modular@evacide The midwest of the US, has over 75% increases in power costs, and their aquifer existing millions of years, is now in direct threat toward extinction - and it's because of #TechBros #greed, heaping #DataCenter #AbuseOfPower upon the innocently ignorant masses.
We're now forced to accelerate desalination, without the benefit of competing energy sources other than #FossilFuels
These abusers must be replaced asap, with ethical #RootInfrastructure #scientists.
Allpoints
JulieR
roboticus lastius (not a bot)@abetterjulie @evacide Exactly. I sometimes only find my feet after wandering around a bit on a site. I do not want a targeted answered wrapped up by AI.
Duke@evacide I hate everything google. I stopped using their search, maps, and gmail in the 2000s and I haven't missed any of it. As of last year, I finally moved to a Fairphone with /e/OS, so no more google evil in my phone. No one needs google and I'm amazed that anyone still uses their anything.
Pete Prodoehl 🍕
Earthworm 🐌As google doces alternative, I love https://cryptpad.fr @CryptPad
Others use some nextcloud suite (but I couldn't resolve technical issues).
https://switching.software/ is your friend.
@earthworm @DukeDuke @CryptPad Cheers! I’ve used CryptPad, and I am glad it exists, but it’s definitely got some rough edges.
I don’t know that people I know would be willing to switch because of those rough edges. 😞
Nadia/Надя/नाडिया/娜迪亚/ نادية@DukeDuke @evacide If by some miracle I survive the summer as anything but an imminently dead homeless person, which looks about as likely as getting struck by lightning, hit by a falling meteor, bitten by a great white shark, and winning the lottery (I hope they're illegal here) all at the same time, I'll have to completely boycott all USA internet services. Not doing so is just begging for the dictatorship over there to do away with me or have me done away with by the local govt. like Operación Cóndor.
Sablebadger@evacide hard agree.
search engines these days, even when not using AI, aren't returning useful links. It's all "what can I sell you related to your search" instead of "here is the information you requested" and its driving me nuts.
🇨🇦 CowMan 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 🇲🇽@Sablebadger @evacide the other side of the equation is not much better. An increasingly large percentage of results are AI generated trash.
@evacide This is why I self-host a SearXNG instance. Too many search engines deciding what I need to see, so I ask them all to get a more complete answer.
Carlos SolísSame here! The only complaint I have is the constant rate-limiting, but otherwise, knowing I'm effectively using ALL THE ENGINES (and with none of the LLM slop) is great for my usage case
retrimental
Hot Dog Water, roilingResearching for papers always made me happy. Later, I used to Google so deep for so many things. It was my goal to find shit people gave-up looking for. Hell, I used to get a hit on Page 10.
I collected so many gigs of football uniform reference through Goog and the many small websites hidden in corners that it would find with the right guiding.
I quit using it entirely maybe 5 years ago.
Don't get around much. Anymore.
Lilune
Ray—Golden Retriever Whisperer—🔝Insights@evacide I just changed the default search engine on my phone and will do the same everywhere else once I get back home.
Joan's Addiction 😷@evacide Ask Jeeves should've hung on a little longer..
@evacide When I was using Safari with duckduck on it, I always turned off AI and search assist. I wouldn't install duck (those settings would've stayed) because last time I did that on my last laptop, I couldn't uninstall it.
When I see anything AI, I quickly check what I missed doing. I type out 90% of my typing because I don't want to lose my typing skills or abillity to spell.
It's a long way of saying that I totally agree with you.
🏳️⚧️ShadesofRaye🩼I like Ecosia. You can turn AI off and it plants trees when people use it.
lemgandi
GhostOnTheHalfShellYeah, I first saw reporting on this kind of thing a month or two ago. Google just decided this is the way the web will work now unilaterally and companies are expected to reshape their websites to provide raw materials for Google to fashion content from.
It’s fucking bullshit
Flash Mob Of One@evacide Not to pimp out my youtube channel, but I did a video on a few Google alternatives a month and a half ago. Could be it's helpful.
Google Search in 2026: Frustrating, Broken, and Avoidable (Here’s What To Use Instead)
CarolTheCrone@evacide
I've started just asking AI to give me links to the websites. Just tell it "give me a list of websites that I can read and evaluate myself".
I've started just asking AI to give me links to the websites. Just tell it "give me a list of websites that I can read and evaluate myself".
Dаn̈ıel Раršlow 🥧Just for fun I tried using the "AI mode" (like there's still another kind), and prefaced my search with "Please give me a classic set of google search results, with absolutely no AI summary, for the following terms:"
I got about ten results. It couldn't resist prefacing it with something like "Here are web results for your query", which technically breached the request.