Google AI Overviews has been an overwhelming presence in the browser for over two years.
I have a love-hate relationship with it.
It’s really nice to get answers to common-knowledge questions that people have been asking for a while. But I don’t love it when others depend on it for everything.
I had many of my friends do “research” on some pressing questions, and they only read what Google AI Overviews have spat out.
While I don’t think Google AI Overviews is necessarily bad or good, it can sometimes yield mixed results.
For example, if you have a quick question, like when a certain movie was released or whether a common recipe calls for a specific seasoning, this tool can be very helpful for avoiding the need to sift through different web pages.
But I find it the most clunky to use when I have less-surfaced, leveled questions or things I want to know about that just came out recently.
As a result, I did a bit more experimenting, similar to what I did with Ask Gemini using YouTube context, and wanted to see how this tool would fare against my personal usage — the results surprised me.
You can access this tool with any browser that uses Google Search, though I stuck to Google Chrome since it is one of the browsers I use on my Lenovo ThinkPad and Chromebook.
I almost ignored the Gemini button in Chrome, but now it saves me hours every week
The Gemini Ask button is more useful than it looks
Google AI Overviews needs a bit of tweaking
Context is still everything
Recently, I have been focusing on my dietary needs as a vegetarian. I found that I lack fiber in my diet, and my preferred snacks and smaller meals have been crackers-focused.
So, I decided to use Google AI Overviews to find information on fiber-based crackers.
As expected, when I used Google AI Overviews to ask it for surface-level information about specific high-fiber crackers, it pointed me to some decent brands I can buy on Amazon.
It turned out that most brands were still available when I searched on Amazon, though a few sub-brands were already sold out.
But again, it was still helpful and relevant.
While using it, I found Google AI Overviews’ simple dietary recommendations were all well and good. Still, I would never consider using it for context in legal or medical issues, which some people I know do.
Mainly because some of that involves scouring the internet in specific places, and also because Google AI Overviews still takes user-generated content, like Reddit, into account when checking sources.
The sources matter a lot, and I am at least happy that Google AI Overviews clearly show which sources it pulls information from, as I often like to cross-check anything I ask with what’s shown.
Though, as a result of my findings, one thing that has helped me get better answers is context. Normally, I wouldn’t ask follow-up questions after entering my question into Google Search, but this time I tried.
I found that doing so refined what I wanted to learn, just in case some of the sources it used were combined, so that one source would outweigh the other in terms of credibility and relevance.
The Google AI Overviews’ Ask anything box is underrated. With it, you can add images or files, or swap the Gemini models if you have access to the Pro version.
Using the Ask anything box will redirect the page to AI mode.
Generally speaking, my follow-up questions proved more helpful, so I was able to get better clarification on broader topics — or, at the very least, I would ask them to provide better sourcing that wasn’t too old.
Sometimes, if it were for a feature check, I would ask it if a certain feature was still available in an update (like Android 16) or if there had been any changes since, to force it to search for results that weren’t from 2021.
Then the very last note, which should be obvious, is that Google AI Overviews is very sensitive to your queries.
It has happened a handful of times that the AI would completely misinterpret my search results because of a typo.
In a recent case, I tried searching for Persona (4) Revival’s release date, and my phone accidentally autocorrected “persona” to “personal,” giving me a completely different result.
It goes to show that you have to be careful with the exact keywords you write; otherwise, the AI can get it completely wrong.
Normally, that isn’t the case when I use AI chatbots directly (these have more training data), as they can usually predict what I’m trying to search for or ask, even if I make an error.
Google AI Overviews has spoiled content for me
Spoilers are a massive trigger for me
After I tried looking up information about whether there would be any confirmation of a seasonal renewal or how many episodes a certain TV show had, I regretted it.
Generally, I like to have an idea in mind when I am planning my subscription budget, using apps I like, such as Netflix, Crunchyroll, and Disney+.
Sadly, when I looked up this information before finishing the content, I found that the Google AI Overviews loves to show spoilers. Plus, there’s no good way for it to filter out spoilers.
So now, when I have a question about it, I would ask a few of my friends who have finished the series or have no interest in watching it to look up that information.
I also tried searching for a way to filter out spoilers (though I didn’t expect there to be one).
Instead, I came across a suggestion to add -AI to the end of a search query in the Google AI Overviews section. Apparently, this was a way to break Google AI Overviews and display only the web page.
Turns out it didn’t work, showing that this is another example of how it may have worked when the function first came out, but it no longer does anything (at least according to my tests).
As a result, I wish there were a better way to show relevance or accuracy.
Unfortunately, there isn’t really a level of certainty attached to what Google AI Overviews outputs; everything the AI outputs has a confident tone, making it all sound accurate (even when it hallucinates).
Leaving Google AI Overviews behind
Google has Google AI Overviews baked into its search engine. While you can choose to ignore it, some users might still not want to see it.
I am still testing the Bye Bye, Google AI Chrome extension (it only has a 521 rating and 100,000 downloads), but so far, it works if you want the Overviews section to be invisible in your web browser.
Otherwise, you’re looking at swapping search engines and web browsers to avoid it.
I use Vivaldi when I am working on hardcore research projects to keep things more organized and minimalist-friendly, and sometimes switch to DuckDuckGo when I want a more privacy-centric browsing experience.
