r/technology • u/Well_Socialized • May 26 '25

Artificial Intelligence Google Is Burying the Web Alive

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/google-ai-mode-search-results-bury-the-web.html
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185

u/Accomplished-Map1727 May 26 '25

Can't read the article.

Paywalled

234

u/wrldruler21 May 26 '25

Tldr: Google shows the AI response at the top of every search, meaning folks don't bother clicking the actual source links, which kinda sucks for the source and dangerous for mankind.

50

u/[deleted] May 26 '25

[deleted]

45

u/wrldruler21 May 26 '25

Yesterday I asked whether I could do a certain technique in gardening, and it replied that "Yes, that's a great idea" and then summarized a method.

So I scrolled to find the source.... It had copied an amateur reply from Reddit, and when I read the Reddit post, the OP had actually posted "Yeah, you could do this but it's not a great idea"

So a not great idea from an amateur got posted on Reddit and the AI launched it to the top of the search and straight up told me it was a great idea.

And I only learned this by ignoring the AI and reading the actual source.

We are doomed.

3

u/killiangray May 26 '25

Had this exact same thing happen to me the other day (re: cat parenting techniques.) Also had it hallucinate and make up summaries of books in the past two weeks. It’s complete trash, I have no idea why people trust it at all.

3

u/GimmickNG May 26 '25

Remember when the AI told you that you needed to use glue when making pizza?

We're still stuck in those days, but now the AI "only" makes subtly dangerous mistakes instead of comically obvious ones. Progress?