In a March 2025 analysis, Google users who encountered an AI summary were less likely to click on links to other websites than users who did not see one.
Real “Unpopular Opinion” hours, but a lot of the Google AI results are honestly helpful and significantly less annoying to navigate than the links they reference.
No annoying or intrusive ads or DONATE PLEASE pop-ups or demands that I give them permission to add cookies. No miles of irrelevant fluff text. No captchas or other weird security features.
This feels like a patch on a patch on a patch, given that so much of these annoyances are a consequence of aggressive AI data harvesting and Google Adsense incentives and decades of privatization championed by Silicon Valley libertarians.
But here we are, regardless. AI answers filter a lot of that crap out
I largely agree with you. The web was already long enshittified with SEO and the browsers themselves loosening their own rules that would trim down results. Any search that’s moderately complicated often get results that are barely relevant and/or trying to sell you something. The AI summary IMO does help.
Real “Unpopular Opinion” hours, but a lot of the Google AI results are honestly helpful and significantly less annoying to navigate than the links they reference.
No annoying or intrusive ads or DONATE PLEASE pop-ups or demands that I give them permission to add cookies. No miles of irrelevant fluff text. No captchas or other weird security features.
This feels like a patch on a patch on a patch, given that so much of these annoyances are a consequence of aggressive AI data harvesting and Google Adsense incentives and decades of privatization championed by Silicon Valley libertarians.
But here we are, regardless. AI answers filter a lot of that crap out
I largely agree with you. The web was already long enshittified with SEO and the browsers themselves loosening their own rules that would trim down results. Any search that’s moderately complicated often get results that are barely relevant and/or trying to sell you something. The AI summary IMO does help.
they do not
I find that most AI answers are full of errors and are really only useful for topics I know nothing about - those answers are always on point.
Excuse me while I go scrape the spackle off my driveway (did you know it was a great substitute for sidewalk deicer?).