When 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.
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@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.
Same 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 -
When 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/
I switched to Duck Duck Go last week, apparently just in time. Google, once obsessively minimalist and functional, has descended into an ugly pile of crap. I can onlly hope the market gives them what they deserve.

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When 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/
@evacide fuck every single bit of that bullshit.
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When 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/
@evacide Watching the process that DeepSeek goes through, at lightning speed, allows me to guide it and get good results, similar to my own process of selecting web links to click, skimming information, etc. Only DeepSeek does it much faster and also elucidates the steps it is taking, while taking them. One doesn't believe the first website at the top of Google (and anyways, usually advertised), nor should one mindlessly take the first AI answer. Both processes, manual and with AI, require mindfulness.
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When 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/
@evacide And the real kicker is that once they do this, they can shape the generated summaries to basically control what we think.
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When 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/
@evacide I agree with all the people in this thread who are saying to dump Google. I also think they maybe don't realize exactly how powerful and important Google search is to culture, the economy, politics, etc.
This has ramifications way beyond what search engine the people of Mastodon prefer.
(for the record, I use kagi.)
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@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.
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When 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/
@evacide noai.duckduckgo.com
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When 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/
@evacide I try to use https://www.mojeek.com/ as a first stop, close to the old GOOG but far fewer indexed pages and can be hit and miss so second stop usually https://www.ecosia.org/search
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When 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/
@evacide thanks but no thanks

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@evacide this will also kill the rabbit hole. No curiosity. No discovery.
@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.
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When 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/
@evacide AGREED!!!
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When 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/
@evacide Not to mention their black box AI gets to interpret the info how big tech wants it to. Billionaires already manipulate algorithms on their social media to push their agendas. You know damn well they will on their AI platforms.
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@raulmatias @nuintari @evacide @kagihq Just found out about https://1.org today.
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When 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/
@evacide
Google Search has been bad for quite a while now.
I switched to DDG 6 years ago when I moved to Linux Mint.
Even DDG can be meh at times, so I ocassionally use qwant or mogeek or ecosia to view alternatives. -
@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.
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When 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/
@evacide thanks for the heads-up. I won't be using Google search.
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@evacide I agree with all the people in this thread who are saying to dump Google. I also think they maybe don't realize exactly how powerful and important Google search is to culture, the economy, politics, etc.
This has ramifications way beyond what search engine the people of Mastodon prefer.
(for the record, I use kagi.)
@alisynthesis @evacide Whenever someone tells me to “Google” something I say “I don’t use Google.”
and hope they ask a follow-up question so I can ramble on about alternatives. -
@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.
@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.
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When 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/
@evacide
One of the techs at work was telling me about Windows 12 rumors that the user will ask copilot and copilot will run the apps. So there is always copilot between you and your programs.