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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@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.
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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 it’s basically the reason I’ve stopped using Google.
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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/
On a more practical note:
Anybody have a list of ranges and user agents I can use to ban Google from ever again indexing my website(s)?
Are their “agentic search assistants” coming from the same places and with the same user agents?
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You can easily remove the AI Overview...
https://hachyderm.io/@scrivy/116536252469319380 -
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 but that doesn't help their "users of ai" number go up. I love the grift of it all /s
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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.
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@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.
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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 you are so 2010...
And so am I. -
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 simple solution Startpage or Duckduckgo with deactivated AI summaries and functions. I still would recommend Startpage over Duck Duck Go because of AI trash.
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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 can't read because it wants me to disable my ad blocker. Anyway, I migrated to qwant some time ago _exactly_ because I was so annoyed by AI summaries, and I have not looked back.
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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 really wish people on here could resist the urge to recommend some other search engine.
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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.
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@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.
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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 "When I do a web search, I do not want Google."
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@evacide I really wish people on here could resist the urge to recommend some other search engine.
@nske My Mastodon replies are a special kind of hell. I know several people who use them to build blocklists.
