Are Google AI Overviews ruining your search? Turn them off

Google has been promoting the AI Overviews feature for several months, but for many users, it is more of a hindrance than a help. The generated answers are not always accurate and even call into question the future of websites that rely on traffic.

Engadget writes about how to bypass AI summaries in the Chrome browser and view the usual web results.

Why should you turn off AI Overviews?

Instead of saving time, the new feature forces users to verify the accuracy of the answers. In addition, there is a dilemma: if readers stop visiting the sources from which AI takes information, these sites may lose revenue and disappear. And then journalists themselves risk losing their jobs.

In addition, Google's official documentation no longer allows you to completely turn off AI Overviews through Search Labs: the note explicitly states that for search, this is as "basic" a feature as information panels or knowledge panels.

How to turn off AI Overviews in Chrome on desktop

There is a simple way to create a separate search shortcut that will immediately open the "Web" tab without AI clippings. To do this:

• Click the three dots in the upper right corner of your Chrome browser and open Settings;
• Go to Search engine — Manage search engines and search;
• Under Site search, click the Add button.

Then fill in the following fields:

• Name — Google/Web;
• Shortcut — https://www.google.com/;
• URL — {google:baseURL}search?udm=14&q=%s.

Save the changes, then select "Make default" from the three dots next to the newly created item.

Now, all queries in the address bar will open the usual results without AI Overviews.

If you don't want to mess with the settings, you can install the extension from Avram Piltch. It will hide the AI Overviews block, leaving other elements of the "All" page — videos, knowledge panels, etc.

As a reminder, Google is actively transforming its search service into a dialogue-based interaction format with users, which is already having a noticeable impact on the audience of online publications. Instead of the traditional list of links, new algorithms offer concise summaries of answers directly in the search results, which reduces traffic to media websites.

We also wrote that the Gemini app now has the feature that allows you to delegate everyday tasks to it for a certain period of time. This feature is a continuation of the updates announced at Google I/O, designed to make the assistant smarter and more useful in everyday life.