It hasn’t even been a year since AI Overviews launched in full force in the US, with a surprise shadow drop at Google I/O 2024. Even if you don’t know the name, you’ve no doubt seen these results any time you’ve used the web’s long-standing favorite search engine. They’re those boxes at the top of every results list, attempting to answer your query by distilling information from across the internet into a simple sentence or two. Needless to say, they’ve been surrounded by controversy since I/O.
In the days after launch, plenty of bad AI examples went viral, and despite some of them being altered by users looking to get in on the internet’s latest punching bag, Google found itself in full damage control mode. Things quieted down throughout the summer, but any time AI Overviews popped up in the news, it made waves with power users and regular people alike.
Around the time AI Overviews rolled out across more regions, Google also stopped requiring users to be logged in to see these results, meaning they popped up more frequently. In October, the company tried to make its sourcing more obvious — a good thing, considering these quotes would often wholesale lift information from various websites, including AP — while also loading it up with ads. And this week, Google announced a shift to Gemini 2.0 as the LLM powering this tool, with the brand promising this would lead to improved, more accurate responses.
Every step of the way, users have tried to opt out. While Google doesn’t allow you to disable AI Overviews — which, in my mind, tells you everything you need to know about their usefulness — amending your URLs or bookmarked search engine can get you around it. Websites like tenbluelinks exist to provide explanations on how to get around AI Overviews through various filters, and while it does feel a bit like playing whack-a-mole, it can really improve your experience.
Of course, it’s only improving your experience if you, you know, dislike AI Overviews. Despite the fact that the internet has been particularly loud about its annoyance or distrust in Google’s current search obsession, the company has continued — as recently as this week — to call the product a success, both in terms of its usefulness and in how users have responded to it. There’s clearly some kind of disconnect here; either the internet’s hate for AI Overviews represents a vocal minority, or Google is overplaying its hand on how people have responded to this tool.
I’m not sure a blog post on an Android-focused website is quite the right place to perform an accurate vibe check here, but it’s the only platform at my disposal. So, while everyone in the US is shaking off the fog from the start of Daylight Saving Time, let’s discuss your current take on AI Overviews. Love them? Hate them? Somewhere in between? Personally, well, I haven’t made my opinion particularly quiet. Now it’s your turn — sound off in the poll and comments below.
