this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2025
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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 18 hours ago by ForgottenFlux@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
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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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[–] baggins@lemmy.ca 10 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Right because when I search for factual information what I really want is an LLM to tell me "sorry Dave I can't answer that question right now." (See: any election related information. As in it doesn't just kick you back to the web search results it just straight up refuses to give you the answer.)

[–] Thistlewick@lemmynsfw.com 8 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

It baffles me how wholly some people are just accepting the complete erosion of the internet. I have lecturers at university, so theoretically educated people, who tell us point blank to plug any questions we have about weekly topics into ChatGPT. The respect I have for these teachers and their content is less than zero at this point.

[–] baggins@lemmy.ca 1 points 5 hours ago

Lmao I'd be going to their office hours with a list of questions just for that

[–] i_am_not_a_robot@feddit.uk 4 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

Then you have to check those answers, so you need to search for an authoritative source anyway... which means you need a regular search engine. At that point you may as well have used the search engine in the first place.

If Google does this, you'll need to find an alternative search engine to check Google against... so you may as well just switch to a different search engine in the first place.

There are things that LLMs are good at, being a search engine isn't one of them. Although I have asked searchy type questions and got some interesting links back which I probably wouldn't have found on a normal web search with the terms I was using, so they can be useful as a supplementary search tool. I'd rather that than it just giving the answers, which then need to be fact checked elsewhere.

[–] uranibaba@lemmy.world 3 points 15 hours ago

At that point you may as well have used the search engine in the first place.

I was going to respond to this but I think you did so yourself:

I have asked searchy type questions and got some interesting links back which I probably wouldn’t have found on a normal web search with the terms I was using

I think they work as supplements and not replacements. As any tool, they have their use and (for me) can enhance my searching. But I would not replace it with only LLM. (Altough I have never had any great luck with ChatGPT and links, they never work - as in ChatGPT give me an anchor element without any link. It's better at providing me search terms and concepts to look up for what I need.)