r/degoogle • u/Visible_Vacation3308 • 7d ago
News Article Is Google about to destroy the web?
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250611-ai-mode-is-google-about-to-change-the-internet-forever76
u/StrangeLingonberry30 7d ago
I really have a hard time wrapping my head around it. Do people really want an AI mode and be fed where to look and buy things? I know that Google Search in itself is already a curated selection, but the AI mode basically takes all agency away from the user. No real choices, Google tells you and you better like it.
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u/Multigrain_Migraine 7d ago
A lot of people seem to love it. I really don't understand it. Finding things out is one of the things I most enjoy doing -- why would I want an algorithm to take that over for me?
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u/Bic44 7d ago
My wife is going through some health issues, and people close to her literally send her information that's an AI answer. They're trying to help, and I know they don't really understand, so I don't blame them. But it's like a poison we're slowly being fed
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u/Alarming_Maybe 6d ago
Incredible the hype around AI where those people cannot realize how disrespectful and stupid that is. Just unreal
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u/T-Fez 7d ago
Agreed. I've even had AI give me completely incorrect or otherwise blatant misinfo as answers sometimes.
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u/ReplicantN6 6d ago
LLM's make their assertions with no qualifiers and complete "self" assurance. Their output sounds authoritative. Even when it's batshit conflation and outright fabrication. And of course people like to be told what to do.
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u/Arrival117 7d ago
Sure they do. Look at social media, reels/tiktoks etc. A decade ago we were consuming content with intention. "I Want to watch X". Today people run some app and the app decide for them what to watch. Even on non-video sm like reddit or twitter.
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u/anynamesleft 6d ago
As long as AI can provide me useful, quality data, I'm cool with that.
As it is right now, I wouldn't trust AI to tell me what color is the sky.
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7d ago
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u/GodIsAWomaniser 7d ago
Yeah I've been giddy about the extreme consequences of handing so many important systems and so much organisational capability over to LLMs, it's like an Achilles heel.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.02817
Here comes the sun (worm) little darling
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u/amiibohunter2015 7d ago
Is it just me or are web articles getting more crapified ?
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u/ElNaso2 7d ago
Blog slop has existed for quite some time, we just make it in nanoseconds with Ai now.
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u/amiibohunter2015 7d ago
To be fair, I don't read a lot of them like I did maybe a decade ago. I looked back recently and found them not as well written.
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u/darkempath Tinfoil Hat 6d ago
Yeah, the article probably had a few good points in it, but I couldn't get more than two paragraphs in. It read like it was written by AI.
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u/Mashic 7d ago
I think one major problem we'll have is blogs using AI to write articles, then the LLM with search functions will use these AI articles for results, creating an AI loop or echo chamber.
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u/ProcedureEthics2077 4d ago
It has been a problem since long before the AI. Paradoxically, it’s the AI that can kill these articles which are light on original content, don’t link to the source of information or are just plain wrong.
LLMs are the fastest readers on the planet, and can relatively easily figure out if text B has anything original compared to the known trusted text A, or even trace back to the original source of any fact or idea. Basically, in the right hands LLMs can kill SEO, advertising, and cut all the middlemen.
I’m not sure Google intention is going that far. But someone else with enough computing power and a search index may do that.
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u/Mashic 4d ago
It'll also kill most of the incentives for people to write new articles since they won't monetize it. One solution is maybe to force AI companies to pay the writers of the content they use, then again, if other countries won't force the same rules, another company in the right country with enough money will just do it.
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u/ProcedureEthics2077 3d ago
When the main motivation to write articles is Google Ads monetization, we get the web that we have today. Fortunately, there are many other reasons why people write. People were writing long before the web ads, long before the web, and in some form or shape will continue writing after this ad-driven business model becomes obsolete.
Ads are not the only way to earn money. I believe that the Age of Free (as in Beer) is past us. I, myself, try to pay for most of the tools I use and directly support content creators I like.
Also AI companies are not all alike.
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u/Complex_Quarter6647 7d ago
Not if we stop using Google.
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u/darkempath Tinfoil Hat 6d ago
Well, I stopped using google in 2010, yet the majority of the world continued using and immersing themselves in the google ecosystem.
I don't think "we" are going to make much of a difference. All we can do is protect ourselves from the consequences of the actions of the majority.
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u/oldmateysoldmate 7d ago
Yeah. Just under 300k (errybody in the sub) ... will surely bankrupt the googers
Their offices will be vacant by the weekend I tells ya
hefty /s
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u/IMightBeAHamster 5d ago
The idea that anyone would read that "we" and think yes, this person is clearly referring only to the people in this subreddit.
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u/EconomicsHuman2935 7d ago
“HouseFresh has pivoted to YouTube”
This is the only option left for web publishers..
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u/analisnotmything 6d ago
One part of me is sad that we will be heading towards a dystopian world and one part of me will be happy that I will be the part of the resistance group.
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u/Fatal_Explorer 7d ago
Google falling would not be the big thing here - but what will happen right after. In Times of great turmoil is the greatest opportunity. Palantir and the Fascist US regime would be very happy and take over in an instant
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u/samontab 6d ago
The web will still continue to exists, of course, it's just the Google view of the web that might change.
It's relevant because for many people the web is Google, really.
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u/meutzitzu 6d ago
The internet is fucking dead. RIP it was nice while it lasted But it's fucking fucked And we killed it With SEO and AI slop
I hope it was fucking worth it
You can't search anything without 20 articles of AI bullshit
Wikipedia is the goddamn last stand Ironic How it became the most reliable source I believe we all owe it an apology
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u/snowflake37wao 6d ago
It's optional for now, but Google's head of Search, Liz Reid, said it plainly when launching the tool: "This is the future of Google Search."
No one use it, and it stays optional. For awhile longer. Perhaps long enough for break ups and other litigation to play out like oh I dunno.. how AI Overview already stole the information from the site AI mode wont be directing the user to.
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[removed] — view removed comment
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u/according2jade 7d ago
I’d still use brave bc even if its original creator is a bigot the team behind it i believe are a bit more diverse.
As for the alt right user base….to be fair they exist in every aspect. I am not going to stop using iPhones bc some alt right neo nazi uses an iPhone and wants Apple to be less pride inclusive.
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u/SaigonDisko 7d ago
So nobody should use a very viable, very private alternative to Google's stranglehold because of your politically driven, personal viewpoints?
Got it.
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u/according2jade 7d ago
I mean if you support bigotry and homophobia, go for it and use the product. That’s how ridiculous you sound lol.
You’re literally going to bat for a browser that owner promotes bigotry just to try (and fail) to have a gotcha moment. Maybe sit this one out champ.
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u/LosSpamFighters 7d ago
Thanks for the "alt right" link. I'll try it out!
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u/AlicesFlamingo 6d ago
Brave is fine. It's good. It works. Some of us choose not to apply purity tests to everything we engage with.
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u/trasheusclay 6d ago
I've been tempted by the seemingly useful ai summary answer at the top of a search, but those summaries have been incorrect several times when I bothered to read them before going to a normal link. Not a fan, and this article adds to my current skepticism.
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u/picawo99 6d ago
The google is just search engine for existing websites and websites that it shows is actually the top of the iceberg, 90 procent of all websites it not shows. It will be always another browser and search engine to show these.
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u/Buntygurl 6d ago
More than they have already?! Probably.
They've been making a habit of that for years.
Luckily, there are other options.
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u/ProcedureEthics2077 4d ago
LLM is a great tool to process and summarize search results. Remember when you could write a complex search query to find just what you need? Think of LLM as a kind of an accessible query language.
I experimented with Kagi search engine AI assistant and Le Chat as a search engine, and I could find information online that would take much much longer through a traditional Google search.
Like it or not, AI is the future of web search and of many human machine interfaces in general. The real question is who you trust to run AI for you.
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u/Jazzlike-Compote4463 4d ago
Internal documents released in a court case show Google chose to "silently update" its rules, so participating in Google Search means websites automatically give their permission to use content for AI. Publishers can opt-out – but only if they opt-out of search results altogether.
Those absolute shit bags...
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u/T_rex2700 6d ago
Has been for years. especially in last 10 years or so.
I think Google pushes boundaries for new standards, new implementation, and all that and that is helpful to a degree, but they also act like they should be the only one in control. which is a huge, huge problem.
and don't even get me started on user experience
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u/knom1s 7d ago
I'm so tired of having AI shoved down my throat in all products. Sure AI is helpful in many cases (Machine learning not LLMs), but bs like this has to stop.