Users in the US are starting to see the new search experience powered by Gemini from Google. Here are some tips for navigating it. It’s also a shame if you want to disable AI Overviews.
Let’s say you’ve just looked up additional information regarding the new AI Overview tool on Google. This very article may appear at the top of your results if your query results in an AI Overview, which not all queries will. With Google Search’s new AI Overviews, users can now get AI-generated responses to queries curated from online content. The answers are displayed in a way that provides the information you need without ever requiring you to click on a link or even know the titles of the publications the AI consulted for inspiration.
A preliminary version of Google’s AI Overviews, known as the Search Generative Experience, was already made available to users upon request. Nevertheless, Google revealed this week at its I/O developer conference that the recently renamed AI Overviews will now be more widely available; anyone in the US using Google to search the web or ask a question will now see AI Overviews at the top of their results—again, provided that their query can be resolved by a summary.
What if all you wanted to see were web links? Regretfully, AI Overviews are now integrated into the standard search results page. It is not possible to disable them or choose not to see them. Although you can’t completely turn off AI Overviews for your Google account, you may opt to only see a page of links in the search results. Following each query, a unique filtered view must be chosen. Click on the More button, which should now be visible among other filter options like Images, Videos, and Shopping, after arriving at the search result page topped with the AI Overview. Then, click Web. A page of results will appear that only displays links to real websites.
When will an AI-generated summary of the results be created in response to your query? According to Google representative Mallory De Leon, “AI Overviews appear for complex queries.” “When our systems determine that generative AI can be especially helpful—for example, when you want to quickly understand information from a range of sources—you’ll find AI Overviews in your Google Search results.” In my early testing, it seemed as though the AI Overviews and summaries would display for both straightforward and complex inquiries, seemingly at random.