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You knew it was coming: Google begins testing AI-only search results | This version of Google won't show you the 10 blue links at all—Gemini completely takes over the results in AI Mode (arstechnica.com)

submitted 16 hours ago by ForgottenFlux to c/technology

91 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Google has become so integral to online navigation that its name became a verb, meaning "to find things on the Internet." Soon, Google might just tell you what's on the Internet instead of showing you. The company has announced an expansion of its AI search features, powered by Gemini 2.0. Everyone will soon see more AI Overviews at the top of the results page, but Google is also testing a more substantial change in the form of AI Mode. This version of Google won't show you the 10 blue links at all—Gemini completely takes over the results in AI Mode.

This marks the debut of Gemini 2.0 in Google search. Google announced the first Gemini 2.0 models in December 2024, beginning with the streamlined Gemini 2.0 Flash. The heavier versions of Gemini 2.0 are still in testing, but Google says it has tuned AI Overviews with this model to offer help with harder questions in the areas of math, coding, and multimodal queries.

With this update, you will begin seeing AI Overviews on more results pages, and minors with Google accounts will see AI results for the first time. In fact, even logged out users will see AI Overviews soon. This is a big change, but it's only the start of Google's plans for AI search.

Gemini 2.0 also powers the new AI Mode for search. It's launching as an opt-in feature via Google's Search Labs, offering a totally new alternative to search as we know it. This custom version of the Gemini large language model (LLM) skips the standard web links that have been part of every Google search thus far.

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[–] dual_sport_dork 16 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (1 children)

The model uses "advanced reasoning, thinking, and multimodal capabilities"...

Well, LLM's are incapable of actually doing the first two, so we're already off to a great start.

I don't think it's much in the way of hyperbole to say that if they make this the default or worse, only search output option then this will be the thing that literally destroys the company.

No one except idiotic boardroom denizens actually wants this. Google failing to provide actual search results is the singular one and only thing that could actually get users to switch away from using it -- and not do that thing where they just grumble and bitch and moan but keep using it anyway. And if no one is searching on Google then nobody is seeing ads on Google, which means Google will not be selling ads.

I will laugh so hard if this happens.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Sadly, I've seen how much the average non-tech enthusiast LOVES all this AI stuff. Like, people's parents/grandparents who only occasionally use a computer when they have to. The types of folks who will call tech support and actually need the answer, "Is your computer powered on?" And there are far more people out there like that than many tech folks think. That's the market that keeps powering this stuff.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Somehow, a huge amount of people hate thinking. Like it's painful or like exertion or something. Anything that can just give them what they want is better.

It doesn't matter if it's right or wrong. They just want an answer. They don't want to know why, or how, they want to know now.

It's the shortcut to knowledge all the ancient parables warned us about. Instead of physically destroying your mind, it stops it from working at all.

[–] Alphane_Moon 4 points 7 hours ago

That being said, we are still in the early phase of the "information age".

IMO industrialization and rise of "modernity" (in the sense of a historical, sociology-political time period) were far more disruptive than what we have seen in the information age so far.

It is likely we still have to go through some sort of highlight disruptive events (the 21st century equivalent of WW1/WW2) before we come to terms with the pros/cons inherent to the information age.