David Gerard4d ago

Google is replacing search results with only the AI

https://awful.systems/post/8380215

Google is replacing search results with only the AI - awful.systems

replace the Web with slop https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aji8lhaV3XM&list=UU9rJrMVgcXTfa8xuMnbhAEA [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aji8lhaV3XM&list=UU9rJrMVgcXTfa8xuMnbhAEA] - video https://pivottoai.libsyn.com/20260520-google-replacing-search-results-with-only-the-ai [https://pivottoai.libsyn.com/20260520-google-replacing-search-results-with-only-the-ai] - podcast time: 9 min 04 sec

Show threadflamingos-cant (hopepunk arc)4d ago

Information-gathering agents are an evolution of Google Alerts. Beyond spotting changes, they can make sense of them, too.

… Links will become an afterthought with the coming changes to the Search results experience.

Web publishers should honestly just block googlebot at this point. Why should they provide credibility to whatever Google’s stochastic parrot hallucinates if Google won’t even give them any kickback?

So what do we search with instead of Google? There isn’t a lot of choice. There’s various flavours of Google or Bing.

Microsoft deprecated their Bing API back in August, instead telling people to use some Azure AI thing. DDG and the like weren’t affected because they have contracts, but I can’t imagine they’ll be renewed.

Show threadHM King Charles III DG FD4d ago
I think it’s possible to allow google search bots but not Gemini bots?
Show threadflamingos-cant (hopepunk arc)
The point is that there’s going to be no difference, soon Google search will be just another chatbot interface.
May 21 at 2:21amWeb
Show threadHM King Charles III DG FD3d ago
Guess I’ll just have to use ddgo, then ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯
Show threadflowerysong3d ago
Unfortunately DuckDuckGo sucks ass at search, even compared to how much the Google search results have degraded over time. I use the no-AI version as my primary search engine, but I have to resort to using Google to find the thing I’m looking for about 1 in 5 times.
Show threadCinnasVerses3d ago
DDG has been my main search engine for over a decade but it has degraded as it became basically a reseller of Bing results after Russia started the current phase of the Ukraine war and they stopped partnering with Yandex.