"If you don't want to see an AI-generated summarization of webpage links when you use Google Search, you can type "-ai" at the end of your query. It's an option WIRED readers highlighted under a recent article about scams found in Google's AI Overviews. I've thoroughly enjoyed using this nifty addendum over the past week, and I wish Google offered a permanent toggle with similar zapping capabilities."
""People find Search more helpful with AI Overviews, and they're coming back to search more as a result," a Google spokesperson tells WIRED. "We offer a 'web' filter to see links only, but people only use it for a tiny fraction of searches." The spokesperson compared AI Overviews to other features baked into the search results, like knowledge panels, that can't be removed."
"If you want to try this out, you can put any combination of letters or numbers attached to an en dash, like "-1" or "-z," at the end of your Google search, and it works just the same, as reported by PCMag. It prevents AI Overviews from appearing completely. The en dash function in Google is designed to remove whatever topic you attach to it from the search results. The removal of AI Overviews seems incidental."
Online search results increasingly include generative AI features such as AI Overviews that summarize webpage links. Typing -ai at the end of a Google query suppresses AI Overviews in browser searches. Any combination of letters or numbers attached to an en dash, such as -1 or -z, produces the same effect because the en dash operator removes the attached term from results. Google offers a 'web' filter to show links only, but that filter sees little use. The AI Overviews feature is presented as part of search results and may not be removable permanently. The known trick appears limited to desktop browsers and may not persist.
Read at WIRED
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