In Yesterday’s IO Keynote Google declared war on the remnants of the Web. (See longer description on their website.) TL;DR: They are pushing Search more into the “here’s your processed answer” direction that “AI Overviews” have established (you know, those AI snippets in current Search that are wrong about 10% of the time). So they are mostly giving up on the paradigm of providing links to information.While they packaged it as a lot of “AI” talk and “agentic” and whatnot, what their whole approach of decontextualizing information, of taking away links to sources and instead producing some LLM generated response means is that they want to establish a new abstraction layer on the web. Where Zuckerberg with his Metaverse failed Google is starting the next attack: Your website, your work no longer matters. The web is being fully hidden behind a Google-controlled surface. And I am not even talking about their browser monopoly.Your work, your writing or art do matter a bit still: As (unpaid) raw material for their synthetic text extruders. You get to work for free so Google can have tight control on the flow of information and make sure that the responses people get are in line with what they need them to be. But your work is no longer seen as an important cultural artifact you can share with others.This is a literal revolution but one against the participatory web, against us: The goal is to take away the web and guide people into Google’s abstraction on top of it. An abstraction they control and moderate. It’s about monopolizing access to information. A true Metaverse unbound by open standards and your ability to build your own corner of the web according to your needs and desires. Which – given how strong Google’s influence is on web standards – will change the shape of the standards for the technological landscape we are building the web on.
The next step will be Google or other companies in that space developing and deploying a new derogatory term for the web marking it as unclean, unruly, dangerous, bad (similar to “the Dark Web”) and making their abstraction the “safe” web.
If you do care about the web, about people’s ability to participate in it as more than mere passive consumers, this needs to be taken seriously. De-googlifying your mental apparatus becomes more urgent today. Find other search engines, don’t use the Chrome browser. Or wake up in a slopified AOL kind of environment where your access to information is limited to what Google’s synthetic text extruders deem relevant.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Comments
25 responses to “On Google declaring war on the Web”
pelle May 20, 2026 @blogthis #sloppification of the hypercapitalist web could drive more people towards the open web, like musk's #hitlergruß and #mechahitler made people join #mastodon. hopefully this deepening of the split of the web will be for the better.https://ploum.net/2023-08-01-splitting-the-web.html
In Yesterday’s IO Keynote Google declared war on the remnants of the Web. (See longer description on their website.) TL;DR: They are pushing Search more into the “here’s your processed answer” direction that “AI Overviews” have established (you know, those AI snippets in current Search that are wrong about 10% of the time). So they are mostly giving up on the paradigm of providing links to information.While they packaged it as a lot of “AI” talk and “agentic” and whatnot, what their whole approach of decontextualizing information, of taking away links to sources and instead producing some LLM generated response means is that they want to establish a new abstraction layer on the web. Where Zuckerberg with his Metaverse failed Google is starting the next attack: Your website, your work no longer matters. The web is being fully hidden behind a Google-controlled surface. And I am not even talking about their browser monopoly.Your work, your writing or art do matter a bit still: As (unpaid) raw material for their synthetic text extruders. You get to work for free so Google can have tight control on the flow of information and make sure that the responses people get are in line with what they need them to be. But your work is no longer seen as an important cultural artifact you can share with others.This is a literal revolution but one against the participatory web, against us: The goal is to take away the web and guide people into Google’s abstraction on top of it. An abstraction they control and moderate. It’s about monopolizing access to information. A true Metaverse unbound by open standards and your ability to build your own corner of the web according to your needs and desires. Which – given how strong Google’s influence is on web standards – will change the shape of the standards for the technological landscape we are building the web on.
@blogthis #sloppification of the hypercapitalist web could drive more people towards the open web, like musk's #hitlergruß and #mechahitler made people join #mastodon. hopefully this deepening of the split of the web will be for the better.https://ploum.net/2023-08-01-splitting-the-web.html
Ethan Wood May 21, 2026 It’s so hard—people have become heavily dependent on the Google ecosystem. The easiest way to login to any site is with Google, Chrome remembers all your passwords, and then there’s YouTube and Gmail. Finding alternatives is just too difficult. Paul Rooney May 22, 2026 It’s difficult, but it’s certainly not too difficult as to be impossible. See Proton for an entire suite of privacy-focused products and guides on de-Googling your life. Or https://di.day for a whole swathe of alternatives.
It’s so hard—people have become heavily dependent on the Google ecosystem. The easiest way to login to any site is with Google, Chrome remembers all your passwords, and then there’s YouTube and Gmail. Finding alternatives is just too difficult.
Paul Rooney May 22, 2026 It’s difficult, but it’s certainly not too difficult as to be impossible. See Proton for an entire suite of privacy-focused products and guides on de-Googling your life. Or https://di.day for a whole swathe of alternatives.
It’s difficult, but it’s certainly not too difficult as to be impossible. See Proton for an entire suite of privacy-focused products and guides on de-Googling your life. Or https://di.day for a whole swathe of alternatives.
Spicy but not too Flamey May 21, 2026 @blog It's a setup xDIn a year, you'll see "Google premium", a subscription service, that will be 2015 (or so) Google, but behind a paywall.
@blog It's a setup xDIn a year, you'll see "Google premium", a subscription service, that will be 2015 (or so) Google, but behind a paywall.
will May 21, 2026 Stuff like this going to make the human web and web rings more important. It’s time to look into modern incarnations of webrings like the wander: https://susam.net/wander/
Stuff like this going to make the human web and web rings more important. It’s time to look into modern incarnations of webrings like the wander: https://susam.net/wander/
Anonymous May 21, 2026 Well… honestly all the AI labs partnership with banks, gov, legal and healthcare can do the same and worst. How many people knows what they are actually outsourcing to the AI labs? It’s not mere infra like the cloud.
Well… honestly all the AI labs partnership with banks, gov, legal and healthcare can do the same and worst. How many people knows what they are actually outsourcing to the AI labs? It’s not mere infra like the cloud.
John Riley May 21, 2026 Will other core search providers follow this lead? Can 3rd-parties survive? DDG, Brave Search, etal..
Will other core search providers follow this lead? Can 3rd-parties survive? DDG, Brave Search, etal..
GJ May 21, 2026 A very interesting take indeed. My honest reaction: What google has done is self-preservation not declaring a war on creativity. They were ahead of everyone else on AI but they didn’t reinvent “google” because it was unprofitable. Selling prime search slots which get clicked is far more money making than having most searches die at the AI summary (most of mine do). This is a hat tip to ChatGPT and Google’s way of saying your UX is better than ours was. Let’s offer a mix and see what we can salvage – both in revenue and users. In the long-term the corporate will have to look at alternate revenue streams and their forays into chip etc. are clear indicators of the same. I know it hurts us (read creators – I’m happy cowriting with AI) but Google is being true its shareholders and to its goal of making money and we can’t blame them for it. Kohrokho May 30, 2026 I disagree. Regardless of the fact that Google is a profit driven (not stability or goodness of heart) company, they control *so much*. SO MUCH. They provide infrastructure! Infrastructure which, when they declare it is no longer needed (read: profitable) on behalf of all their users, they should simply be allowed to walk away from? Hell no! In this sense, perhaps they should become an AI startup, and stop serving maps, operating system updates, storage, statistics, ads, custom searches, etc etc etc, just so people understand how many things they no longer have before they reach for a service of theirs again. THAT is the problem – infrastructure – and although Google isn’t liable for the disruption of their services, a footgun is a footgun. The footgun, and the continuing trend it creates across critical infrastructure providers is the problem, not blame, and certainly not profit margins. Infrastructure is dying.
A very interesting take indeed. My honest reaction: What google has done is self-preservation not declaring a war on creativity. They were ahead of everyone else on AI but they didn’t reinvent “google” because it was unprofitable. Selling prime search slots which get clicked is far more money making than having most searches die at the AI summary (most of mine do). This is a hat tip to ChatGPT and Google’s way of saying your UX is better than ours was. Let’s offer a mix and see what we can salvage – both in revenue and users. In the long-term the corporate will have to look at alternate revenue streams and their forays into chip etc. are clear indicators of the same. I know it hurts us (read creators – I’m happy cowriting with AI) but Google is being true its shareholders and to its goal of making money and we can’t blame them for it.
Kohrokho May 30, 2026 I disagree. Regardless of the fact that Google is a profit driven (not stability or goodness of heart) company, they control *so much*. SO MUCH. They provide infrastructure! Infrastructure which, when they declare it is no longer needed (read: profitable) on behalf of all their users, they should simply be allowed to walk away from? Hell no! In this sense, perhaps they should become an AI startup, and stop serving maps, operating system updates, storage, statistics, ads, custom searches, etc etc etc, just so people understand how many things they no longer have before they reach for a service of theirs again. THAT is the problem – infrastructure – and although Google isn’t liable for the disruption of their services, a footgun is a footgun. The footgun, and the continuing trend it creates across critical infrastructure providers is the problem, not blame, and certainly not profit margins. Infrastructure is dying.
I disagree. Regardless of the fact that Google is a profit driven (not stability or goodness of heart) company, they control *so much*. SO MUCH. They provide infrastructure! Infrastructure which, when they declare it is no longer needed (read: profitable) on behalf of all their users, they should simply be allowed to walk away from? Hell no!
In this sense, perhaps they should become an AI startup, and stop serving maps, operating system updates, storage, statistics, ads, custom searches, etc etc etc, just so people understand how many things they no longer have before they reach for a service of theirs again. THAT is the problem – infrastructure – and although Google isn’t liable for the disruption of their services, a footgun is a footgun. The footgun, and the continuing trend it creates across critical infrastructure providers is the problem, not blame, and certainly not profit margins.
Infrastructure is dying.
Jevon Wright 💙💛 May 21, 2026 @blog I did some research a few months ago and 92% of the time, the overview was incorrect in some way. Also each time you do a search, you get a different result.
@blog I did some research a few months ago and 92% of the time, the overview was incorrect in some way. Also each time you do a search, you get a different result.
Alex May 21, 2026 This is very valid, i already noticing guardrails for some requests. Usually i expect wiki for some types of queries but now google gives me snippets formed for average user.
This is very valid, i already noticing guardrails for some requests. Usually i expect wiki for some types of queries but now google gives me snippets formed for average user.
Adam Konrad May 21, 2026 Invalid Nobody cares about your content because its most likely not unique enough People need utility – do you really think they found your blog because of you? No, they googled a solution to their problem and found your content If the content I produce is useful, then it will be compressed and embedded into a model and I’m completely fine with it – I contributed with signal Google is useful, I was thinking they would become a subscription based a long time ago, mostly to just remove ads and increase signal in search results. Well, it happened differently. Ian S. May 21, 2026 Your response indicates that your thinking has already been severely, and perhaps irreparably, distorted by these systems. Your opinion will be weighted accordingly. Have a nice day.
Invalid
Nobody cares about your content because its most likely not unique enough
People need utility – do you really think they found your blog because of you?
No, they googled a solution to their problem and found your content
If the content I produce is useful, then it will be compressed and embedded into a model and I’m completely fine with it – I contributed with signal
Google is useful, I was thinking they would become a subscription based a long time ago, mostly to just remove ads and increase signal in search results. Well, it happened differently.
Ian S. May 21, 2026 Your response indicates that your thinking has already been severely, and perhaps irreparably, distorted by these systems. Your opinion will be weighted accordingly. Have a nice day.
Your response indicates that your thinking has already been severely, and perhaps irreparably, distorted by these systems. Your opinion will be weighted accordingly. Have a nice day.
Michael Chermside May 21, 2026 And people who still want search should switch to using Duck Duck Go or Kagi, or some other alternative that actually performs searches. https://duckduckgo.com/ https://kagi.com/ Anonymous May 22, 2026 DDG is also pushing AI slop tho. Anonymous May 23, 2026 https://noai.duckduckgo.com Anonymous May 23, 2026 Fortunately, DDG has this “NO AI” service… https://noai.duckduckgo.com/ Anonymous May 28, 2026 And Kagi is an AI-first company.
And people who still want search should switch to using Duck Duck Go or Kagi, or some other alternative that actually performs searches.
https://duckduckgo.com/
https://kagi.com/
Anonymous May 22, 2026 DDG is also pushing AI slop tho. Anonymous May 23, 2026 https://noai.duckduckgo.com Anonymous May 23, 2026 Fortunately, DDG has this “NO AI” service… https://noai.duckduckgo.com/ Anonymous May 28, 2026 And Kagi is an AI-first company.
DDG is also pushing AI slop tho.
Anonymous May 23, 2026 https://noai.duckduckgo.com
https://noai.duckduckgo.com
Anonymous May 23, 2026 Fortunately, DDG has this “NO AI” service… https://noai.duckduckgo.com/
Fortunately, DDG has this “NO AI” service…
https://noai.duckduckgo.com/
Anonymous May 28, 2026 And Kagi is an AI-first company.
And Kagi is an AI-first company.
Tiago Celestino May 21, 2026 Nowadays, people don’t know the internet. They are trapped in social media ecosystems, which demonstrates that the Web as we knew it ceased to exist soon.
Nowadays, people don’t know the internet. They are trapped in social media ecosystems, which demonstrates that the Web as we knew it ceased to exist soon.
moe May 22, 2026 it’s interesting how abstraction works. We’ve all sort of accepted the notion of not writing down IP addresses, instead relying on DNS, and that was a bother, so there were curated collections of websites, and those were not quick enough to respond to changes so there were search engines. Already search engine manipulation was a layer that very blatantly manipulated what was “at the top of the page” like a heavy-handed newspaper owner, but also began hiding it. With a curated list, you know it’s a list made by someone. Once it’s “a search engine” you can start pretending “that’s the way it is”, “that’s the algo”, “that’s the computer”. The latest step with so-called AI is just more of the same, no paradigmatic change. I was always driven to insanity looking over someone’s shoulder as they typed the full URL for google into a browser, then into google typed the full URL of the website they wanted to go to, then clicked the link in there. I think to those people, google already was the actual DNS. The fact that now google will give them sycophantic pat on the back about how they’re such a good boy/girl for typing the url into the chatbot will quickly become normal to them and I wonder what effects it will have on them further down the line. For myself, I didn’t find it hard to leave google for startpage for now, though every search engine appears to have ai slop in it now. I don’t think I really search for answers anymore, just particular products, and the websites I’d buy them from I typically already know anyway. My personal guess is that we’re going to see a return of curated content where possible. People already know their friends, if they make new ones online they have to get contacts on them for other social networks in case that one goes bye-bye forever, and then work from there. It’s been coming for a while now, young people’s hope of finally owning something, or at least having a free-hosted website with control over the html, is stronger than ever. I’m modestly optimistic about the fighting spirit of the people not making millions on stock manipulation. Kohrokho May 30, 2026 I find search aggregators/proxies such as SearX to be much better at providing search results (when Bing isn’t laser blasting it with fake entries), because you can configure them to pull from anything and do your own filtering. Also, search companies hate being aggregated. I enjoy that. If you can accept that your searches won’t have instant, perfect results, and let’s be real, that died a while ago, a search aggregator is the best of the worst. And it’s open source! https://searx.space/
it’s interesting how abstraction works. We’ve all sort of accepted the notion of not writing down IP addresses, instead relying on DNS, and that was a bother, so there were curated collections of websites, and those were not quick enough to respond to changes so there were search engines. Already search engine manipulation was a layer that very blatantly manipulated what was “at the top of the page” like a heavy-handed newspaper owner, but also began hiding it. With a curated list, you know it’s a list made by someone. Once it’s “a search engine” you can start pretending “that’s the way it is”, “that’s the algo”, “that’s the computer”. The latest step with so-called AI is just more of the same, no paradigmatic change. I was always driven to insanity looking over someone’s shoulder as they typed the full URL for google into a browser, then into google typed the full URL of the website they wanted to go to, then clicked the link in there. I think to those people, google already was the actual DNS. The fact that now google will give them sycophantic pat on the back about how they’re such a good boy/girl for typing the url into the chatbot will quickly become normal to them and I wonder what effects it will have on them further down the line. For myself, I didn’t find it hard to leave google for startpage for now, though every search engine appears to have ai slop in it now. I don’t think I really search for answers anymore, just particular products, and the websites I’d buy them from I typically already know anyway. My personal guess is that we’re going to see a return of curated content where possible. People already know their friends, if they make new ones online they have to get contacts on them for other social networks in case that one goes bye-bye forever, and then work from there. It’s been coming for a while now, young people’s hope of finally owning something, or at least having a free-hosted website with control over the html, is stronger than ever. I’m modestly optimistic about the fighting spirit of the people not making millions on stock manipulation.
Kohrokho May 30, 2026 I find search aggregators/proxies such as SearX to be much better at providing search results (when Bing isn’t laser blasting it with fake entries), because you can configure them to pull from anything and do your own filtering. Also, search companies hate being aggregated. I enjoy that. If you can accept that your searches won’t have instant, perfect results, and let’s be real, that died a while ago, a search aggregator is the best of the worst. And it’s open source! https://searx.space/
I find search aggregators/proxies such as SearX to be much better at providing search results (when Bing isn’t laser blasting it with fake entries), because you can configure them to pull from anything and do your own filtering. Also, search companies hate being aggregated. I enjoy that.
If you can accept that your searches won’t have instant, perfect results, and let’s be real, that died a while ago, a search aggregator is the best of the worst. And it’s open source!
https://searx.space/
Walt May 22, 2026 In general, the more current content is used to create derived content, the better. Derived content should clearly acknowledge pre-existing content it relied on. I think an AI-generated search result summary is a good application of that principle. The negative I see is that the most widely used web search tool is not provided by cooperating non-profits. Similar to how the most crucial operating system (Linux) is.
In general, the more current content is used to create derived content, the better. Derived content should clearly acknowledge pre-existing content it relied on. I think an AI-generated search result summary is a good application of that principle. The negative I see is that the most widely used web search tool is not provided by cooperating non-profits. Similar to how the most crucial operating system (Linux) is.
Geoff O. May 25, 2026 Historically, we’ve been through this before. First with the newspaper industry, then radio, then tv. The intervention of large, moneyed interests between the audience and the information is a cycle we seem doomed to repeat. The other side of that coin is that people keep finding ways to circumvent the latest gatekeepers. They manage to maintain their hold for a while, but it doesn’t last because people always go looking for something else, something new, something different. The powers that be can’t provide that because their nature is to double down on old metrics that promise a reliable return on investment. While I am dismayed with the landscape that Google is ushering in, I do trust that human curiosity will be met with ingenuity to circumvent the media moguls of our day.
Historically, we’ve been through this before. First with the newspaper industry, then radio, then tv. The intervention of large, moneyed interests between the audience and the information is a cycle we seem doomed to repeat.
The other side of that coin is that people keep finding ways to circumvent the latest gatekeepers. They manage to maintain their hold for a while, but it doesn’t last because people always go looking for something else, something new, something different. The powers that be can’t provide that because their nature is to double down on old metrics that promise a reliable return on investment. While I am dismayed with the landscape that Google is ushering in, I do trust that human curiosity will be met with ingenuity to circumvent the media moguls of our day.
Cunning Linguist May 26, 2026 A number of assumptions here: 1. “Your website, your work no longer matters.” – of course, it matters. Where else do you think they get their stuff from? 2. “You get to work for free so Google can have tight control on the flow of information and make sure that the responses people get are in line with what they need them to be. But your work is no longer seen as an important cultural artifact you can share with others.” – you don’t have to work for free. But you don’t get to demand free traffic from Google either. Create your own distribution and visibility channel. It’s a free world (pun intended). 3. Google’s monopoly won’t stand if people really want a links based search engine and Google doesn’t provide it. What’s unsaid here, is that people prefer the AI summaries. That’s what scares you. Kohrokho May 30, 2026 I want to respond on your second point. The internet was supposed to have multicast groups on the WAN. It was supposed to have PKI based security and transits between individuals. It was supposed to have robust rings of trust between users. It was supposed to have user controlled firewalls. It was supposed to have the ability to address individual computers without NAT. It was supposed to thwart attempts to filter traffic between users. All of these components work together to form a complete, central attack resistant internet. The software to do all this work exists and works. ISPs, however, stepped in the way. Hardware manufacturers and proprietary operating system vendors stepped in the way. Governments stepped in the way. Companies with ‘HTTPS certificate nag screens’ and centrally, company vetted trust rings got in the way. It’s a free world of choices, but the choice pool is not infinite. It’s up to the weirdos and monkey greasers in the back to fix your stuff, if you aren’t going to, but the companies and ‘working groups’ *are* constantly working on making your computer network less robust, and I think acknowledging that is okay.
A number of assumptions here:
“Your website, your work no longer matters.” – of course, it matters. Where else do you think they get their stuff from?
“You get to work for free so Google can have tight control on the flow of information and make sure that the responses people get are in line with what they need them to be. But your work is no longer seen as an important cultural artifact you can share with others.” – you don’t have to work for free. But you don’t get to demand free traffic from Google either. Create your own distribution and visibility channel. It’s a free world (pun intended).
Google’s monopoly won’t stand if people really want a links based search engine and Google doesn’t provide it. What’s unsaid here, is that people prefer the AI summaries. That’s what scares you.
Kohrokho May 30, 2026 I want to respond on your second point. The internet was supposed to have multicast groups on the WAN. It was supposed to have PKI based security and transits between individuals. It was supposed to have robust rings of trust between users. It was supposed to have user controlled firewalls. It was supposed to have the ability to address individual computers without NAT. It was supposed to thwart attempts to filter traffic between users. All of these components work together to form a complete, central attack resistant internet. The software to do all this work exists and works. ISPs, however, stepped in the way. Hardware manufacturers and proprietary operating system vendors stepped in the way. Governments stepped in the way. Companies with ‘HTTPS certificate nag screens’ and centrally, company vetted trust rings got in the way. It’s a free world of choices, but the choice pool is not infinite. It’s up to the weirdos and monkey greasers in the back to fix your stuff, if you aren’t going to, but the companies and ‘working groups’ *are* constantly working on making your computer network less robust, and I think acknowledging that is okay.
I want to respond on your second point.
The internet was supposed to have multicast groups on the WAN. It was supposed to have PKI based security and transits between individuals. It was supposed to have robust rings of trust between users. It was supposed to have user controlled firewalls. It was supposed to have the ability to address individual computers without NAT. It was supposed to thwart attempts to filter traffic between users. All of these components work together to form a complete, central attack resistant internet. The software to do all this work exists and works. ISPs, however, stepped in the way. Hardware manufacturers and proprietary operating system vendors stepped in the way. Governments stepped in the way. Companies with ‘HTTPS certificate nag screens’ and centrally, company vetted trust rings got in the way. It’s a free world of choices, but the choice pool is not infinite. It’s up to the weirdos and monkey greasers in the back to fix your stuff, if you aren’t going to, but the companies and ‘working groups’ *are* constantly working on making your computer network less robust, and I think acknowledging that is okay.
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The next step will be Google or other companies in that space developing and deploying a new derogatory term for the web marking it as unclean, unruly, dangerous, bad (similar to “the Dark Web”) and making their abstraction the “safe” web.
If you do care about the web, about people’s ability to participate in it as more than mere passive consumers, this needs to be taken seriously. De-googlifying your mental apparatus becomes more urgent today. Find other search engines, don’t use the Chrome browser. Or wake up in a slopified AOL kind of environment where your access to information is limited to what Google’s synthetic text extruders deem relevant.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Comments
25 responses to “On Google declaring war on the Web”
pelle May 20, 2026 @blogthis #sloppification of the hypercapitalist web could drive more people towards the open web, like musk's #hitlergruß and #mechahitler made people join #mastodon. hopefully this deepening of the split of the web will be for the better.https://ploum.net/2023-08-01-splitting-the-web.html
@blogthis #sloppification of the hypercapitalist web could drive more people towards the open web, like musk's #hitlergruß and #mechahitler made people join #mastodon. hopefully this deepening of the split of the web will be for the better.https://ploum.net/2023-08-01-splitting-the-web.html
Ethan Wood May 21, 2026 It’s so hard—people have become heavily dependent on the Google ecosystem. The easiest way to login to any site is with Google, Chrome remembers all your passwords, and then there’s YouTube and Gmail. Finding alternatives is just too difficult. Paul Rooney May 22, 2026 It’s difficult, but it’s certainly not too difficult as to be impossible. See Proton for an entire suite of privacy-focused products and guides on de-Googling your life. Or https://di.day for a whole swathe of alternatives.
It’s so hard—people have become heavily dependent on the Google ecosystem. The easiest way to login to any site is with Google, Chrome remembers all your passwords, and then there’s YouTube and Gmail. Finding alternatives is just too difficult.
Paul Rooney May 22, 2026 It’s difficult, but it’s certainly not too difficult as to be impossible. See Proton for an entire suite of privacy-focused products and guides on de-Googling your life. Or https://di.day for a whole swathe of alternatives.
It’s difficult, but it’s certainly not too difficult as to be impossible. See Proton for an entire suite of privacy-focused products and guides on de-Googling your life. Or https://di.day for a whole swathe of alternatives.
Spicy but not too Flamey May 21, 2026 @blog It's a setup xDIn a year, you'll see "Google premium", a subscription service, that will be 2015 (or so) Google, but behind a paywall.
@blog It's a setup xDIn a year, you'll see "Google premium", a subscription service, that will be 2015 (or so) Google, but behind a paywall.
will May 21, 2026 Stuff like this going to make the human web and web rings more important. It’s time to look into modern incarnations of webrings like the wander: https://susam.net/wander/
Stuff like this going to make the human web and web rings more important. It’s time to look into modern incarnations of webrings like the wander: https://susam.net/wander/
Anonymous May 21, 2026 Well… honestly all the AI labs partnership with banks, gov, legal and healthcare can do the same and worst. How many people knows what they are actually outsourcing to the AI labs? It’s not mere infra like the cloud.
Well… honestly all the AI labs partnership with banks, gov, legal and healthcare can do the same and worst. How many people knows what they are actually outsourcing to the AI labs? It’s not mere infra like the cloud.
John Riley May 21, 2026 Will other core search providers follow this lead? Can 3rd-parties survive? DDG, Brave Search, etal..
Will other core search providers follow this lead? Can 3rd-parties survive? DDG, Brave Search, etal..
GJ May 21, 2026 A very interesting take indeed. My honest reaction: What google has done is self-preservation not declaring a war on creativity. They were ahead of everyone else on AI but they didn’t reinvent “google” because it was unprofitable. Selling prime search slots which get clicked is far more money making than having most searches die at the AI summary (most of mine do). This is a hat tip to ChatGPT and Google’s way of saying your UX is better than ours was. Let’s offer a mix and see what we can salvage – both in revenue and users. In the long-term the corporate will have to look at alternate revenue streams and their forays into chip etc. are clear indicators of the same. I know it hurts us (read creators – I’m happy cowriting with AI) but Google is being true its shareholders and to its goal of making money and we can’t blame them for it. Kohrokho May 30, 2026 I disagree. Regardless of the fact that Google is a profit driven (not stability or goodness of heart) company, they control *so much*. SO MUCH. They provide infrastructure! Infrastructure which, when they declare it is no longer needed (read: profitable) on behalf of all their users, they should simply be allowed to walk away from? Hell no! In this sense, perhaps they should become an AI startup, and stop serving maps, operating system updates, storage, statistics, ads, custom searches, etc etc etc, just so people understand how many things they no longer have before they reach for a service of theirs again. THAT is the problem – infrastructure – and although Google isn’t liable for the disruption of their services, a footgun is a footgun. The footgun, and the continuing trend it creates across critical infrastructure providers is the problem, not blame, and certainly not profit margins. Infrastructure is dying.
A very interesting take indeed. My honest reaction: What google has done is self-preservation not declaring a war on creativity. They were ahead of everyone else on AI but they didn’t reinvent “google” because it was unprofitable. Selling prime search slots which get clicked is far more money making than having most searches die at the AI summary (most of mine do). This is a hat tip to ChatGPT and Google’s way of saying your UX is better than ours was. Let’s offer a mix and see what we can salvage – both in revenue and users. In the long-term the corporate will have to look at alternate revenue streams and their forays into chip etc. are clear indicators of the same. I know it hurts us (read creators – I’m happy cowriting with AI) but Google is being true its shareholders and to its goal of making money and we can’t blame them for it.
Kohrokho May 30, 2026 I disagree. Regardless of the fact that Google is a profit driven (not stability or goodness of heart) company, they control *so much*. SO MUCH. They provide infrastructure! Infrastructure which, when they declare it is no longer needed (read: profitable) on behalf of all their users, they should simply be allowed to walk away from? Hell no! In this sense, perhaps they should become an AI startup, and stop serving maps, operating system updates, storage, statistics, ads, custom searches, etc etc etc, just so people understand how many things they no longer have before they reach for a service of theirs again. THAT is the problem – infrastructure – and although Google isn’t liable for the disruption of their services, a footgun is a footgun. The footgun, and the continuing trend it creates across critical infrastructure providers is the problem, not blame, and certainly not profit margins. Infrastructure is dying.
I disagree. Regardless of the fact that Google is a profit driven (not stability or goodness of heart) company, they control *so much*. SO MUCH. They provide infrastructure! Infrastructure which, when they declare it is no longer needed (read: profitable) on behalf of all their users, they should simply be allowed to walk away from? Hell no!
In this sense, perhaps they should become an AI startup, and stop serving maps, operating system updates, storage, statistics, ads, custom searches, etc etc etc, just so people understand how many things they no longer have before they reach for a service of theirs again. THAT is the problem – infrastructure – and although Google isn’t liable for the disruption of their services, a footgun is a footgun. The footgun, and the continuing trend it creates across critical infrastructure providers is the problem, not blame, and certainly not profit margins.
Infrastructure is dying.
Jevon Wright 💙💛 May 21, 2026 @blog I did some research a few months ago and 92% of the time, the overview was incorrect in some way. Also each time you do a search, you get a different result.
@blog I did some research a few months ago and 92% of the time, the overview was incorrect in some way. Also each time you do a search, you get a different result.
Alex May 21, 2026 This is very valid, i already noticing guardrails for some requests. Usually i expect wiki for some types of queries but now google gives me snippets formed for average user.
This is very valid, i already noticing guardrails for some requests. Usually i expect wiki for some types of queries but now google gives me snippets formed for average user.
Adam Konrad May 21, 2026 Invalid Nobody cares about your content because its most likely not unique enough People need utility – do you really think they found your blog because of you? No, they googled a solution to their problem and found your content If the content I produce is useful, then it will be compressed and embedded into a model and I’m completely fine with it – I contributed with signal Google is useful, I was thinking they would become a subscription based a long time ago, mostly to just remove ads and increase signal in search results. Well, it happened differently. Ian S. May 21, 2026 Your response indicates that your thinking has already been severely, and perhaps irreparably, distorted by these systems. Your opinion will be weighted accordingly. Have a nice day.
Invalid
Nobody cares about your content because its most likely not unique enough
People need utility – do you really think they found your blog because of you?
No, they googled a solution to their problem and found your content
If the content I produce is useful, then it will be compressed and embedded into a model and I’m completely fine with it – I contributed with signal
Google is useful, I was thinking they would become a subscription based a long time ago, mostly to just remove ads and increase signal in search results. Well, it happened differently.
Ian S. May 21, 2026 Your response indicates that your thinking has already been severely, and perhaps irreparably, distorted by these systems. Your opinion will be weighted accordingly. Have a nice day.
Your response indicates that your thinking has already been severely, and perhaps irreparably, distorted by these systems. Your opinion will be weighted accordingly. Have a nice day.
Michael Chermside May 21, 2026 And people who still want search should switch to using Duck Duck Go or Kagi, or some other alternative that actually performs searches. https://duckduckgo.com/ https://kagi.com/ Anonymous May 22, 2026 DDG is also pushing AI slop tho. Anonymous May 23, 2026 https://noai.duckduckgo.com Anonymous May 23, 2026 Fortunately, DDG has this “NO AI” service… https://noai.duckduckgo.com/ Anonymous May 28, 2026 And Kagi is an AI-first company.
And people who still want search should switch to using Duck Duck Go or Kagi, or some other alternative that actually performs searches.
https://duckduckgo.com/
https://kagi.com/
Anonymous May 22, 2026 DDG is also pushing AI slop tho. Anonymous May 23, 2026 https://noai.duckduckgo.com Anonymous May 23, 2026 Fortunately, DDG has this “NO AI” service… https://noai.duckduckgo.com/ Anonymous May 28, 2026 And Kagi is an AI-first company.
DDG is also pushing AI slop tho.
Anonymous May 23, 2026 https://noai.duckduckgo.com
https://noai.duckduckgo.com
Anonymous May 23, 2026 Fortunately, DDG has this “NO AI” service… https://noai.duckduckgo.com/
Fortunately, DDG has this “NO AI” service…
https://noai.duckduckgo.com/
Anonymous May 28, 2026 And Kagi is an AI-first company.
And Kagi is an AI-first company.
Tiago Celestino May 21, 2026 Nowadays, people don’t know the internet. They are trapped in social media ecosystems, which demonstrates that the Web as we knew it ceased to exist soon.
Nowadays, people don’t know the internet. They are trapped in social media ecosystems, which demonstrates that the Web as we knew it ceased to exist soon.
moe May 22, 2026 it’s interesting how abstraction works. We’ve all sort of accepted the notion of not writing down IP addresses, instead relying on DNS, and that was a bother, so there were curated collections of websites, and those were not quick enough to respond to changes so there were search engines. Already search engine manipulation was a layer that very blatantly manipulated what was “at the top of the page” like a heavy-handed newspaper owner, but also began hiding it. With a curated list, you know it’s a list made by someone. Once it’s “a search engine” you can start pretending “that’s the way it is”, “that’s the algo”, “that’s the computer”. The latest step with so-called AI is just more of the same, no paradigmatic change. I was always driven to insanity looking over someone’s shoulder as they typed the full URL for google into a browser, then into google typed the full URL of the website they wanted to go to, then clicked the link in there. I think to those people, google already was the actual DNS. The fact that now google will give them sycophantic pat on the back about how they’re such a good boy/girl for typing the url into the chatbot will quickly become normal to them and I wonder what effects it will have on them further down the line. For myself, I didn’t find it hard to leave google for startpage for now, though every search engine appears to have ai slop in it now. I don’t think I really search for answers anymore, just particular products, and the websites I’d buy them from I typically already know anyway. My personal guess is that we’re going to see a return of curated content where possible. People already know their friends, if they make new ones online they have to get contacts on them for other social networks in case that one goes bye-bye forever, and then work from there. It’s been coming for a while now, young people’s hope of finally owning something, or at least having a free-hosted website with control over the html, is stronger than ever. I’m modestly optimistic about the fighting spirit of the people not making millions on stock manipulation. Kohrokho May 30, 2026 I find search aggregators/proxies such as SearX to be much better at providing search results (when Bing isn’t laser blasting it with fake entries), because you can configure them to pull from anything and do your own filtering. Also, search companies hate being aggregated. I enjoy that. If you can accept that your searches won’t have instant, perfect results, and let’s be real, that died a while ago, a search aggregator is the best of the worst. And it’s open source! https://searx.space/
it’s interesting how abstraction works. We’ve all sort of accepted the notion of not writing down IP addresses, instead relying on DNS, and that was a bother, so there were curated collections of websites, and those were not quick enough to respond to changes so there were search engines. Already search engine manipulation was a layer that very blatantly manipulated what was “at the top of the page” like a heavy-handed newspaper owner, but also began hiding it. With a curated list, you know it’s a list made by someone. Once it’s “a search engine” you can start pretending “that’s the way it is”, “that’s the algo”, “that’s the computer”. The latest step with so-called AI is just more of the same, no paradigmatic change. I was always driven to insanity looking over someone’s shoulder as they typed the full URL for google into a browser, then into google typed the full URL of the website they wanted to go to, then clicked the link in there. I think to those people, google already was the actual DNS. The fact that now google will give them sycophantic pat on the back about how they’re such a good boy/girl for typing the url into the chatbot will quickly become normal to them and I wonder what effects it will have on them further down the line. For myself, I didn’t find it hard to leave google for startpage for now, though every search engine appears to have ai slop in it now. I don’t think I really search for answers anymore, just particular products, and the websites I’d buy them from I typically already know anyway. My personal guess is that we’re going to see a return of curated content where possible. People already know their friends, if they make new ones online they have to get contacts on them for other social networks in case that one goes bye-bye forever, and then work from there. It’s been coming for a while now, young people’s hope of finally owning something, or at least having a free-hosted website with control over the html, is stronger than ever. I’m modestly optimistic about the fighting spirit of the people not making millions on stock manipulation.
Kohrokho May 30, 2026 I find search aggregators/proxies such as SearX to be much better at providing search results (when Bing isn’t laser blasting it with fake entries), because you can configure them to pull from anything and do your own filtering. Also, search companies hate being aggregated. I enjoy that. If you can accept that your searches won’t have instant, perfect results, and let’s be real, that died a while ago, a search aggregator is the best of the worst. And it’s open source! https://searx.space/
I find search aggregators/proxies such as SearX to be much better at providing search results (when Bing isn’t laser blasting it with fake entries), because you can configure them to pull from anything and do your own filtering. Also, search companies hate being aggregated. I enjoy that.
If you can accept that your searches won’t have instant, perfect results, and let’s be real, that died a while ago, a search aggregator is the best of the worst. And it’s open source!
https://searx.space/
Walt May 22, 2026 In general, the more current content is used to create derived content, the better. Derived content should clearly acknowledge pre-existing content it relied on. I think an AI-generated search result summary is a good application of that principle. The negative I see is that the most widely used web search tool is not provided by cooperating non-profits. Similar to how the most crucial operating system (Linux) is.
In general, the more current content is used to create derived content, the better. Derived content should clearly acknowledge pre-existing content it relied on. I think an AI-generated search result summary is a good application of that principle. The negative I see is that the most widely used web search tool is not provided by cooperating non-profits. Similar to how the most crucial operating system (Linux) is.
Geoff O. May 25, 2026 Historically, we’ve been through this before. First with the newspaper industry, then radio, then tv. The intervention of large, moneyed interests between the audience and the information is a cycle we seem doomed to repeat. The other side of that coin is that people keep finding ways to circumvent the latest gatekeepers. They manage to maintain their hold for a while, but it doesn’t last because people always go looking for something else, something new, something different. The powers that be can’t provide that because their nature is to double down on old metrics that promise a reliable return on investment. While I am dismayed with the landscape that Google is ushering in, I do trust that human curiosity will be met with ingenuity to circumvent the media moguls of our day.
Historically, we’ve been through this before. First with the newspaper industry, then radio, then tv. The intervention of large, moneyed interests between the audience and the information is a cycle we seem doomed to repeat.
The other side of that coin is that people keep finding ways to circumvent the latest gatekeepers. They manage to maintain their hold for a while, but it doesn’t last because people always go looking for something else, something new, something different. The powers that be can’t provide that because their nature is to double down on old metrics that promise a reliable return on investment. While I am dismayed with the landscape that Google is ushering in, I do trust that human curiosity will be met with ingenuity to circumvent the media moguls of our day.
Cunning Linguist May 26, 2026 A number of assumptions here: 1. “Your website, your work no longer matters.” – of course, it matters. Where else do you think they get their stuff from? 2. “You get to work for free so Google can have tight control on the flow of information and make sure that the responses people get are in line with what they need them to be. But your work is no longer seen as an important cultural artifact you can share with others.” – you don’t have to work for free. But you don’t get to demand free traffic from Google either. Create your own distribution and visibility channel. It’s a free world (pun intended). 3. Google’s monopoly won’t stand if people really want a links based search engine and Google doesn’t provide it. What’s unsaid here, is that people prefer the AI summaries. That’s what scares you. Kohrokho May 30, 2026 I want to respond on your second point. The internet was supposed to have multicast groups on the WAN. It was supposed to have PKI based security and transits between individuals. It was supposed to have robust rings of trust between users. It was supposed to have user controlled firewalls. It was supposed to have the ability to address individual computers without NAT. It was supposed to thwart attempts to filter traffic between users. All of these components work together to form a complete, central attack resistant internet. The software to do all this work exists and works. ISPs, however, stepped in the way. Hardware manufacturers and proprietary operating system vendors stepped in the way. Governments stepped in the way. Companies with ‘HTTPS certificate nag screens’ and centrally, company vetted trust rings got in the way. It’s a free world of choices, but the choice pool is not infinite. It’s up to the weirdos and monkey greasers in the back to fix your stuff, if you aren’t going to, but the companies and ‘working groups’ *are* constantly working on making your computer network less robust, and I think acknowledging that is okay.
A number of assumptions here:
“Your website, your work no longer matters.” – of course, it matters. Where else do you think they get their stuff from?
“You get to work for free so Google can have tight control on the flow of information and make sure that the responses people get are in line with what they need them to be. But your work is no longer seen as an important cultural artifact you can share with others.” – you don’t have to work for free. But you don’t get to demand free traffic from Google either. Create your own distribution and visibility channel. It’s a free world (pun intended).
Google’s monopoly won’t stand if people really want a links based search engine and Google doesn’t provide it. What’s unsaid here, is that people prefer the AI summaries. That’s what scares you.
Kohrokho May 30, 2026 I want to respond on your second point. The internet was supposed to have multicast groups on the WAN. It was supposed to have PKI based security and transits between individuals. It was supposed to have robust rings of trust between users. It was supposed to have user controlled firewalls. It was supposed to have the ability to address individual computers without NAT. It was supposed to thwart attempts to filter traffic between users. All of these components work together to form a complete, central attack resistant internet. The software to do all this work exists and works. ISPs, however, stepped in the way. Hardware manufacturers and proprietary operating system vendors stepped in the way. Governments stepped in the way. Companies with ‘HTTPS certificate nag screens’ and centrally, company vetted trust rings got in the way. It’s a free world of choices, but the choice pool is not infinite. It’s up to the weirdos and monkey greasers in the back to fix your stuff, if you aren’t going to, but the companies and ‘working groups’ *are* constantly working on making your computer network less robust, and I think acknowledging that is okay.
I want to respond on your second point.
The internet was supposed to have multicast groups on the WAN. It was supposed to have PKI based security and transits between individuals. It was supposed to have robust rings of trust between users. It was supposed to have user controlled firewalls. It was supposed to have the ability to address individual computers without NAT. It was supposed to thwart attempts to filter traffic between users. All of these components work together to form a complete, central attack resistant internet. The software to do all this work exists and works. ISPs, however, stepped in the way. Hardware manufacturers and proprietary operating system vendors stepped in the way. Governments stepped in the way. Companies with ‘HTTPS certificate nag screens’ and centrally, company vetted trust rings got in the way. It’s a free world of choices, but the choice pool is not infinite. It’s up to the weirdos and monkey greasers in the back to fix your stuff, if you aren’t going to, but the companies and ‘working groups’ *are* constantly working on making your computer network less robust, and I think acknowledging that is okay.
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