Google is about to look actually completely different, and in the event you’re not a fan of the AI Overviews characteristic, then you definitely’re not going to love what’s coming.
On the Google I/O 2026 keynote this week, the corporate introduced that it’s overhauling Search to embrace a conversational, AI-driven strategy, even inviting customers to enlist AI brokers to robotically notify them if, for instance, their favourite band had been to go on tour.
“That is the most important improve to our iconic search field since its debut over 25 years in the past,” mentioned Elizabeth Reid, chief of the Search group at Google.
Now, once you search on Google, you’re given the choice from the begin to use AI mode. Even in the event you decide to not use AI mode, you may get a search consequence with an AI Overview, which can now embody a chat field so that you can ask follow-up questions. When you open the chat field, Google begins to look extra like ChatGPT than the search engine that’s ingrained itself into our lives for many years.
This announcement didn’t elicit the response that Google would’ve hoped for. As a substitute, many customers see this as one more instance of a tech firm squeezing AI brokers and chatbots into the whole lot it might, making it not possible to navigate the web with out encountering a chatbot. Particularly after the rocky rollout of Google’s AI Overviews — bear in mind when Google instructed individuals to stare into the solar? — customers aren’t keen for an additional adjustment.
On Google’s video asserting the Search updates, one commenter wrote, “that is the most effective commercial for letting individuals comprehend it’s time to get a special search engine.”
They make a very good level. The brand new Google Search, which Reid describes as “AI search by and thru,” is bound to alienate customers. Generative AI apart, some customers have additionally grown weary of Google for its sheer dominance — a U.S. District Court docket dominated in 2024 that Google had acted illegally to take care of a monopoly in on-line search.
In the event you’re interested by various engines like google, you’re in the best place. Listed below are some locations to begin (or, embrace chaos and see the place Open Web Engine takes you).
Kagi
Earlier than we had been irritated by Google’s AI Overview, we had been irritated by adverts. Advertisements are non-negotiable for Google — that’s how Google Search makes cash. But when a search engine had been to function with out adverts, may it nonetheless generate profits?
That’s what Kagi is making an attempt to perform. For $5 per 30 days — or $10 for limitless searches — you may entry an ad-free search engine with out AI overviews.
Kagi isn’t simply ad-free Google. The search engine additionally lets customers customise their search expertise by letting them filter sure web sites and refine search outcomes with “lenses.” In the event you’re in class, for instance, you should use Kagi’s tutorial lens to seek out journal articles a few subject, moderately than weblog posts.
In the event you discover Google’s AI Overviews helpful infrequently, then you should use Kagi’s AI-powered “Fast Reply” characteristic to summarize a solution to your search and embody hyperlinks to its sources. However in the event you don’t need these AI summaries, guess what? You don’t must generate them.
DuckDuckGo
Perhaps you don’t need to pay to look stuff on-line. That’s comprehensible. DuckDuckGo affords a free search engine that makes cash by promoting adverts, however not like Google, it doesn’t acquire consumer knowledge within the type of search, shopping, and buy historical past. As a substitute DuckDuckGo chooses what adverts to serve primarily based on the subject of your search — so in the event you seek for live performance tickets, you may see an advert for SeatGeek.
Like many different engines like google, DuckDuckGo has an interface that’s harking back to Google — and like Google, it might show an AI-generated reply to a query in your search outcomes. But when that bothers you, DuckDuckGo permits you to fully opt out of AI features within the settings menu.
Startpage
Whereas DuckDuckGo has its personal separate search index from Google, Startpage is a proxy for Google.
Because of this Startpage acts as a intermediary between you and the tech large. Once you seek for one thing on Startpage, the corporate strips private knowledge like your IP tackle out of your question, sends it to Google through the cloud, and returns the knowledge to you. So, it’s Google with out Google understanding who you might be. The draw back is, properly, it’s nonetheless Google. No less than Startpage allows you to flip off AI options.
&udm=14
What in the event you took Startpage and made it less complicated? The search engine &udm=14 is called for the string of characters it appends to your whole searches on Google.
In the event you add &udm=14 to your Google searches, you’ll get the identical Google outcomes, solely with out an AI overview. However doing that your self after each search is fairly annoying. That’s why &udm=14 does it for you robotically.
The developer even put the code on GitHub so you may run your personal model of &udm=14 if that’s your factor.
In the event you’re involved about privateness, then you definitely’d in all probability go for Startpage over &udm=14, however each will mainly get you AI-free Google.
Courageous
Brave affords each a browser and a search engine. Because the browser is constructed atop Chromium, which is similar open-source base as Google Chrome, you should use Chrome extensions throughout the Courageous browser. So, in the event you don’t need to use Google Chrome, however you may’t operate with out your LastPass plug-in, Courageous may very well be for you.
When it comes to search, Courageous permits customers to use sure third-party “Goggles” (not Googles!) to their searches, which curate the outcomes. These embody “Information from the Proper,” “Information from the Left,” “Tech Blogs,” and another extra area of interest choices, like “Hacker Information/1k brief,” which prioritizes frequent domains referenced on Y-Combinator’s Hacker Information discussion board, however with out the 1,000 hottest domains, so it omits extra mainstream websites. Then, there’s “No Pinterest,” which is fairly self-explanatory (and humorous).
And sure, Courageous does allow you to toggle AI options on and off. There’s no motive you may’t do that, Google.
Ecosia
Like Courageous, Ecosia additionally affords each a browser and a search engine, and it’s additionally constructed atop Chromium, which means that your Chrome plug-ins ought to work on Ecosia too. As its identify suggests, Ecosia’s most important draw is that it’s alleged to be extra eco-friendly than different search platforms.
Ecosia makes cash from adverts, nevertheless it donates about 80% of its revenue to tree-planting initiatives all over the world. Tree-planting can generally be a red flag for greenwashing, however Ecosia works with communities concerned in native reforestation efforts, publishes month-to-month financial reports for transparency, and blogs in regards to the precise affect of its efforts.
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