Google ‘AI Mode’ Is Coming to Feed You Even More AI Slop

If you despise Google’s “AI overviews” feature, Google has some news specifically designed to infuriate you — the company is introducing an “AI Mode” that allows users to replace traditional search results with nothing but AI slop.

Finally, an option that provides pure, unadulterated garbage dreamed up by an algorithm. That’s exactly what I need when I’m looking for factual information.

If you’re unaware, AI Overviews are riddled with either misleading or incomplete information. It attempts to pluck information from several of the links you would have clicked on so it can present the answer to you itself, like it came up with the idea, thus driving traffic away from a website that actually came up with the idea and could use a few clicks to keep the lights on. It’s theft unfolding in real time, and it’s not even particularly good at it.

But now, thanks to Google’s AI model, Gemini 2.0 (which, btw, once told a kid to die, and told another to kill his parents) users who subscribe to the Google One AI Premium Plan will be saved from having to see that a daunting list of website links they must choose from and read themselves with their eyes and brain and instead will get a concise, ChatGPT-style response. It will cite sources and provide links, not that anyone who would use this kind of thing is interested in making sure the AI is correct.

Will it be factually correct? Eh, we’re in the Trump/AI era, baby! No one cares about facts anymore. Right and wrong? Good and bad? Objective, observable, documented, and testable truth versus nonsense an idiot pulled out of his saggy ass? It’s all the same nowadays! Life is misery! Enjoy the descent into Hell!

The idea is to provide quick and snappy yet deep and comprehensive answers to queries that get straight to the point and don’t waste your time. If the AI, for some reason, can’t come up with an adequate response, then and only then will it kick you back to the traditional Google search result page filled with web links so you can sift through the information yourself.

As Google turns to chatbots in the hope of one day replacing traditional searches, one has to wonder what’s going to become of the sources these chatbots are pulling all their information from. By reducing the clicks the sources get, you’re reducing the chances that they’ll even exist in the future.

By stealing their work and almost entirely cutting them out of the process, where does Google, or OpenAI, or any other AI chatbot service think this information is going to come from once they snuff out all the sources? I don’t think a chatbot can answer that question, that is, unless it steals its answer from a website that could’ve used the click.