Google’s Search Generative Experience has caused many controversies among users, leading to an increase in searches on how to disable new AI features. In a recent I/O keynote, CEO Sundar Pichai said that the new AI-centric version of Google Search has increased user engagement, but he gave no proof. In response to these developments, two new Chrome extensions have been launched to deal with common user problems and smooth out the search process.
Addressing AI overviews and Reddit overload
Google’s newest search modifications consist of AI-generated overviews that many users consider to be an invasion. In reply to that, a new Chrome extension has been created to remove these AI overviews. It is expected that the AI Overviews will be available to US users this week and in more countries in the coming months and will reach more than 1 billion users before the end of the year. For those who prefer a more traditional search, a separate extension is available, which will make their interaction with the search results much easier by removing AI summaries.
Also Read: AI Revolution Unveiled: A Glimpse into the Future of Google Search
The other frequent complaint is about the overuse of Reddit links in search results. Many users think that these links are not so useful or even too many because they appear very often, and the content is not related to what the user needs. In order to combat this, a separate Chrome extension is now available that filters out Reddit links from Google search results. This extension is designed to simplify the search interface. Therefore, it will be easier for users to find relevant information without reading a lot of Reddit posts.
Enhancing user control
The project of these extensions is a part of the more general worry about the path that Google Search takes. Both the users and the content creators have expressed their annoyance at the increasing cluttering of search results which now are also not so easy to use. These new tools are made for the users to have more control over their search experience, and thus they deal with the specific issues that have occurred after recent updates.
Google has recognized some of these problems by introducing a “Web only” filter, which enables users to limit their search results to traditional web pages and thus exclude AI overviews, Quora, Reddit, and other aggregated content. Though this feature is a step towards a cleaner search interface, most people still believe that it is too late.
Also read: Google Search Faces Criticism Amidst Concerns Over Generative AI-Generated Spam
To those in the publishing industry, the search environment that is full of clutter creates a big problem. AI overviews and the huge amount of user-generated content that is now at the top of search results make it very hard for publishers to have their content found by users.
For a long time now, Google has been the main search engine in the world; however, it is facing more and more competition from OpenAI, which, on Monday, just introduced GPT-4o, which will power its chatbot ChatGPT.
In an interview with The Verge, Liz Reid, Google’s newly installed head of Search, stated, “What we see with generative AI is that Google can do more of the searching for you. It can take a bunch of the hard work out of searching, so you can focus on the parts you want to do to get things done or on the parts of exploring that you find exciting.”
