One reason these AI results can be so bad is simply that the AI isn't, actually, intelligent. It does not know what a rock is or what relationship it has to eating or what eating is, so it can suggest eating rocks. To accurately summarize something you kind of need to know what you are summarizing; what an "AI" is going to do is just talk about anything that the internet has talked about in the immediate vicinity of whatever you asked about.
You’re absolutely right. And that’s a reason entrusting it to determine what is good info, and then to distill it into an accurate summary, is a bad idea.
Aside from the questions around why Reddit should keep those $60 mil while the information was actually supplies by *its users*, maybe this will teach people to actually learn to think and fact-check by themselves again! Or it's going to be a process of very quick selection of the fittest.
Good point. We for sure reached a point where too many of us were happy to be spoon fed whatever Google/ChatGPT spat back at us — or worst of all, what we saw on Facebook — and too quick to accept it as fact.
I replaced all 5M karma worth of Reddit posts and comments with "Fuck /u/spez" last year when they banned Apollo. Can't want to see where that turns up.
“Then Google itself started playing dirty tricks and manipulating search results…”
This alone has disqualified Google from my use. It has overtly suppressed and disappeared historical facts, scientific data and public news stories that I have virtually zero confidence in it as a “research” tool. I only use it to find the link to a known entity’s homepage or contact information; and perhaps mapping. But even without its ongoing AI foibles, including its recent image shenanigans, I put little to no confidence in the organization or its products.
I hadn't really thought about it but you're so right! The phrase "a quick Google search will do" is also no longer valid. No search is quick on Google anymore, you have to rummage through pages of garbage until you find something relevant to your needs.
Great article. I've often been asking chatGPT for things I used to search for. It's not perfect, but it sure beats Google. It browses the sites scans through 10 to 20 pieces of garbage to find the result.
It’s so sad. I taught my dad to ‘Google it’ around 15 years ago. He loved it so much, he’d text me to say “I did a Maggie! I Googled it!” And since that day, it was called Doing a Maggie. He died 12 years ago…and I bet nobody thought that’s where this comment was going…I’m super sad for the demise of Google because it was something special I shared with my dad. 😅
Oh and on a less niche note: I’m a freelance content writer. SEO is a huge part of how I make my living as a blog writer for clients. I wonder what this means for my living, when AI has already had such a negative impact. Not somewhere good, is my bet. 🤷🏼♀️
That’s a sweet story. I’m going to miss “doing a Maggie” too. It’s a sad fall from grace.
On your other point, I run content for a marketing agency. We are fully in on being an optimisation-first agency, but I do wonder how long that can last. Google has messed with SEO so much, but it was always still its main thing. Putting AI in its most prominent spots is a big departure.
So we’re both in the same game, then! I really hope it’s not as doom and gloom as it sounds. But really, it’s looking that way. Most agencies that send me my work are getting less content clients these days, and soon, it’ll be less SEO experts for that side of things. But perhaps (as a friend tells me) one day, when the internet is full of AI-generated content and there’s no decent organic search function left, they’ll all come crawling back. 😅 I just hope I haven’t starved by then!
Kagi seems to be a good alternative search engine. It's monetised by a subscription, so you don't get any ads, sponsored results AI answers posted at the top of the page (unless you ask for it). However, it's also much more utilitarian and plain looking.
Honestly I use DDG myself. Kagi is quite fussy with what it will let you do and the browser you use if you want it to be the default search engine. So, it's an option, but is probably not for most people.
It's sad but you're right. And it's a shame because people has been 'Googling it' for so long and it has started to become reliable and now they're ruining it and their reputation. I myself (who is very fond of 'Googling it') has been using AI for my answers more and more often just because the answers are more specific to my search query. AI still make mistakes, sometimes stupid and obvious mistakes, but it also saves a whole lot of time instead of scouring the Google search results for the answer I need.
I have to admit, it did give us some good laughs with "eat a rock day" and whatnot, but I was really confused when the AI came up recently while trying to do a simple Google search. This was a really interesting read, especially the info about Reddit.
Yeah. It’s one of its main sources. You may have noticed recently that Reddit posts appear in the actual search feed a lot too now. As I said, Reddit is full of great stuff… and equally full of gutter-level nonsense. It’s a bad source of truth.
I haven't been using Google for privacy reasons for some years, but recently DuckDuckGo was down so I needed to revert back for a few hours. I couldn't believe it. Thanks for this breakdown, I particularly loved this sentence: "Finally, AI can do the one thing it seems half decent at —summarising stuff for people who are too lazy to read it."
I recently experimented with using Kagi instead, a direct subscription search engine, and found that I liked it. I felt more... calm, sort of, in a very quiet back-of-mind kind of way.
The callout of the truth that a feature so easily misused should never have been released brings to mind the old adage about the programmers testing an algorithm for ordering a beer, and the first customer who walks in orders nothing, and asks where the restroom is. No part of this feels meaningfully customer/user-focused.
Haha. I like that adage. We've long been trapped in the era of shareholder value > customer value, and maybe it was fine while things worked, but the covers are off now.
You’re missing the point — I don’t read them. But Google is forcibly making the user experience worse by making me scroll past these features to find a genuine result. I’ve been on DuckDuckGo for a few days now; as a search engine, miles better.
One reason these AI results can be so bad is simply that the AI isn't, actually, intelligent. It does not know what a rock is or what relationship it has to eating or what eating is, so it can suggest eating rocks. To accurately summarize something you kind of need to know what you are summarizing; what an "AI" is going to do is just talk about anything that the internet has talked about in the immediate vicinity of whatever you asked about.
You’re absolutely right. And that’s a reason entrusting it to determine what is good info, and then to distill it into an accurate summary, is a bad idea.
Aside from the questions around why Reddit should keep those $60 mil while the information was actually supplies by *its users*, maybe this will teach people to actually learn to think and fact-check by themselves again! Or it's going to be a process of very quick selection of the fittest.
Good point. We for sure reached a point where too many of us were happy to be spoon fed whatever Google/ChatGPT spat back at us — or worst of all, what we saw on Facebook — and too quick to accept it as fact.
Maybe this can act as the wake up call.
I replaced all 5M karma worth of Reddit posts and comments with "Fuck /u/spez" last year when they banned Apollo. Can't want to see where that turns up.
A man doing god’s work. 🙏🏻
Thanks for the pizza-glue tip!
You're welcome. Hope it's delicious.
Hubris will be what leads to our demise.
“Then Google itself started playing dirty tricks and manipulating search results…”
This alone has disqualified Google from my use. It has overtly suppressed and disappeared historical facts, scientific data and public news stories that I have virtually zero confidence in it as a “research” tool. I only use it to find the link to a known entity’s homepage or contact information; and perhaps mapping. But even without its ongoing AI foibles, including its recent image shenanigans, I put little to no confidence in the organization or its products.
Google is the modern Icarus story of our times.
I’ve long put up with Google. But I might just have reached the point of no return. What do you use on a day-to-day basis for search?
Mostly DuckDuckGo
It's done. Set it as my homepage. See ya Google.
I've also reached a breaking point with Google, Meta et al. I don't want this shitty AI inserted all over the place. They have truly lost their way
Your mention of Meta is right on cue for my latest - https://www.trend-mill.com/p/social-medias-death-spiral
I hadn't really thought about it but you're so right! The phrase "a quick Google search will do" is also no longer valid. No search is quick on Google anymore, you have to rummage through pages of garbage until you find something relevant to your needs.
I know. I don’t think I’ve ever had to use page on 2 on Google until recently. That just shows the drop off
True! Page 2..or 3...or 4...
Great article. I've often been asking chatGPT for things I used to search for. It's not perfect, but it sure beats Google. It browses the sites scans through 10 to 20 pieces of garbage to find the result.
Google search results are just so bad now.
Yup. I’ve been on DuckDuckGo for a few days now, already having a much better search experience
It’s so sad. I taught my dad to ‘Google it’ around 15 years ago. He loved it so much, he’d text me to say “I did a Maggie! I Googled it!” And since that day, it was called Doing a Maggie. He died 12 years ago…and I bet nobody thought that’s where this comment was going…I’m super sad for the demise of Google because it was something special I shared with my dad. 😅
Oh and on a less niche note: I’m a freelance content writer. SEO is a huge part of how I make my living as a blog writer for clients. I wonder what this means for my living, when AI has already had such a negative impact. Not somewhere good, is my bet. 🤷🏼♀️
That’s a sweet story. I’m going to miss “doing a Maggie” too. It’s a sad fall from grace.
On your other point, I run content for a marketing agency. We are fully in on being an optimisation-first agency, but I do wonder how long that can last. Google has messed with SEO so much, but it was always still its main thing. Putting AI in its most prominent spots is a big departure.
So we’re both in the same game, then! I really hope it’s not as doom and gloom as it sounds. But really, it’s looking that way. Most agencies that send me my work are getting less content clients these days, and soon, it’ll be less SEO experts for that side of things. But perhaps (as a friend tells me) one day, when the internet is full of AI-generated content and there’s no decent organic search function left, they’ll all come crawling back. 😅 I just hope I haven’t starved by then!
Kagi seems to be a good alternative search engine. It's monetised by a subscription, so you don't get any ads, sponsored results AI answers posted at the top of the page (unless you ask for it). However, it's also much more utilitarian and plain looking.
Hadn’t heard of this one. Will bookmark incase my experiences with DuckDuckGo aren’t up to the mark.
Honestly I use DDG myself. Kagi is quite fussy with what it will let you do and the browser you use if you want it to be the default search engine. So, it's an option, but is probably not for most people.
It's sad but you're right. And it's a shame because people has been 'Googling it' for so long and it has started to become reliable and now they're ruining it and their reputation. I myself (who is very fond of 'Googling it') has been using AI for my answers more and more often just because the answers are more specific to my search query. AI still make mistakes, sometimes stupid and obvious mistakes, but it also saves a whole lot of time instead of scouring the Google search results for the answer I need.
I’ve decided to stay AI-free for now, and I’m going to be “quacking it” with DuckDuckGo
I have to admit, it did give us some good laughs with "eat a rock day" and whatnot, but I was really confused when the AI came up recently while trying to do a simple Google search. This was a really interesting read, especially the info about Reddit.
Yeah. It’s one of its main sources. You may have noticed recently that Reddit posts appear in the actual search feed a lot too now. As I said, Reddit is full of great stuff… and equally full of gutter-level nonsense. It’s a bad source of truth.
I haven't been using Google for privacy reasons for some years, but recently DuckDuckGo was down so I needed to revert back for a few hours. I couldn't believe it. Thanks for this breakdown, I particularly loved this sentence: "Finally, AI can do the one thing it seems half decent at —summarising stuff for people who are too lazy to read it."
It’s a shadow of its former self. It has certainly opened the door to a competitor — if only they could all be a bit less sucky too.
I recently experimented with using Kagi instead, a direct subscription search engine, and found that I liked it. I felt more... calm, sort of, in a very quiet back-of-mind kind of way.
The callout of the truth that a feature so easily misused should never have been released brings to mind the old adage about the programmers testing an algorithm for ordering a beer, and the first customer who walks in orders nothing, and asks where the restroom is. No part of this feels meaningfully customer/user-focused.
Haha. I like that adage. We've long been trapped in the era of shareholder value > customer value, and maybe it was fine while things worked, but the covers are off now.
Here's hoping it leads to a healthy wave of re-prioritization! (Very, very cautiously hoping, haha)
It really is pretty bad now in terms of quality and finding what you are actually looking for.
Brutally bad. A while back I ended up on page 2 — when did we ever do that?? — to find the first result that wasn’t sponsored/ad/gamed.
No one is forcing you to read AI results for your Google search.
It's clearly labeled
Search Labs | AI Overview
No one is forcing you to read ads either.
They're clearly labeled
Sponsored
Scroll down.
You sound like it's your first day on the Internet, Cubbie. 😄
You’re missing the point — I don’t read them. But Google is forcibly making the user experience worse by making me scroll past these features to find a genuine result. I’ve been on DuckDuckGo for a few days now; as a search engine, miles better.