#internet search

There are other search engines people could try instead, of course, although they too are integrating AI into their search tools – Microsoft, for example, has been building AI into its Bing search engine. But Google's smaller competitors have so little market share it's difficult to see them making a dent in the economy – and many are adding their own AI tools.

The machine web, if that is where things are going, may be more closed, less diverse and in a real sense, flatter for the people who spend their time online.

But some observers aren't panicking. "I'm not worried in the sense that this is all an evolution," says Dame Wendy Hall, a computer science professor at University of Southampton and one of the early pioneers who designed the architecture that was a forerunner of the World Wide Web in the 1980s. "AI is now coming into the equation and it's going to change all the dynamics. I wouldn't want to say exactly what's going to happen," she says. ​​"The web is still there and it's still open. If Google goes this way, some bright spark will come up with a new way of making money.

"Something will happen. But I guess for many people along the way, it will be too late."

What users want

There is little doubt AI Mode is an impressive piece of technology. It deploys a "fan out method" where the AI breaks your question into subtopics and does multiple searches simultaneously. Google says this lets AI Mode recommend more diverse sources, produce deeper answers to more complex queries, dives deeper – and you have the ability to ask follow-up questions.

According to Google, reactions to AI Overviews suggest AI Mode will be extremely popular. "As people use AI Overviews, we see they are happier with their results, and they search more often," Pichai said at Google's developer conference. "It's one of the most successful launches in search in the past decade." In other words, Google says this makes Search better and it's what users want.

But that's no justification, says Danielle Coffey, president of News/Media Alliance, a trade group representing more than 2,200 journalism and media outlets. (The BBC is a member of the News/Media Alliance.)

"This is the definition of theft. The AI answers are a substitute for the original product. They're making money on our content and we get nothing in return," Coffey says. "It's not Google's place to make this business decision on behalf of the people who are producing the goods being sold."

The problem, Coffey and others say, is publishers have no choice. Internal documents released in a court case show Google chose to "silently update" its rules, so participating in Google Search means websites automatically give their permission to use content for AI. Publishers can opt-out – but only if they opt-out of search results altogether.

A Google spokesperson says these documents show early discussions that don't reflect the company's final decision-making process, and publishers have always controlled whether their content is available on Google. The spokesperson says Google offers controls that let website owners choose to keep their content out of responses from AI Mode and AI Overviews.

"The AI answers are a substitute for the original product," says Coffey. "I don't see that being a business proposition that we would ever willingly opt into."

Over the past year, US courts have found Google operates not one but two illegal monopolies in the search engine and digital advertising businesses. The courts are still determining the consequences, and there's a real possibility of a breakup that could deal a serious blow to Google's control of the web. Google says it disagrees with the courts' decisions and plans to appeal. The company argues it faces immense competition, and proposals to break up the company would be worse for consumers and slow innovation.

But Google's grip may already be loosening, in small ways. During these trials, Apple executive Eddy Cue said Google searches in Safari have fallen for the first time in 22 years, probably because people are using AI chatbots instead. Google issued a statement arguing the company continues to see overall query growth, including from Apple devices.

A recent survey found nearly 72% of Americans sometimes use AI tools such as ChatGPT in place of search engines. "I think you learn more when you do the searching yourself," says Mike King, founder of SEO agency iPullRank. "But a lot of people feel they don't need all that."

But AI may come with significant costs. "It's going to create more filter bubbles, because now Google is interpreting that information rather than giving it to you," King says. Research on AI chatbots suggests they have a tendency to act as echo chambers. "The info you expect is going to be reinforced," King says.

Then, of course, there are fundamental concerns about the quality of AI answers. Some research suggests AI hallucinations are getting worse as their technical abilities improve. Even Sundar Pichai said on a podcast interview that hallucinations are "an inherent feature" of the technology – though Google is using its traditional search methods to ground AI responses, and the company says accuracy is improving. Google tells the BBC the vast majority of AI search responses are factual, and their accuracy is on par with other Search features.

Still, early slip ups – like the times when Google's AI Overviews told people to eat rocks and add glue to pizza recipes – linger in the public consciousness. Google jumps to fix errors, but on a recent Thursday in 2025, one year into AI Overviews, the AI said it wasn't Thursday and it wasn't 2025. My mistake.

Research suggests that AI could even produce an echo-chamber effect with the very misinformation it hallucinates – something computer scientists have coined "chat chambers". A Google spokesperson says its AI is designed to match your interests without limiting what you find on the web.

While the spectre of the machine web is disquieting for many who build and depend on the internet, Google paints a different, vibrant picture. "You will see us five years from now sending a lot of traffic out to the web. I think that's the product direction we are committed to," Pichai told Decoder. Google tells the BBC its vision is one where AI enhances search, builds on the types of questions users can ask, and ultimately expands opportunities to create and discover content, albeit in potentially different ways.

"I'm not going to predict what is going to happen, because, of course, the future is multifactorial," says Cory Doctorow, a longtime technology advocate and writer of the upcoming book Enshittification about the decay of online platforms. "But, if I were still someone who valued Google as a way to find information or to have my information found, I'd be really worried about this."