Google is about to look actually totally different, and if you happen to’re not a fan of the AI Overviews function, then you definately’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 have 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, if you search on Google, you’re given the choice from the begin to use AI mode. Even if you happen to choose to not use AI mode, you may get a search outcome with an AI Overview, which is able to 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 every thing it may possibly, making it unattainable to navigate the web with out encountering a chatbot. Particularly after the rocky rollout of Google’s AI Overviews — keep in mind when Google informed folks to stare into the solar? — customers usually are not keen for an additional adjustment.
On Google’s video asserting the Search updates, one commenter wrote, “that is the very best commercial for letting folks understand it’s time to get a special search engine.”
They make an excellent level. The brand new Google Search, which Reid describes as “AI search by way of 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 keep up a monopoly in on-line search.
Should you’re inquisitive about different search engines like google and yahoo, you’re in the precise place. Listed here are some locations to start out (or, embrace chaos and see the place Open Web Engine takes you).
Kagi
Earlier than we have been irritated by Google’s AI Overview, we have been irritated by advertisements. Advertisements are non-negotiable for Google — that’s how Google Search makes cash. But when a search engine have been to function with out advertisements, might it nonetheless generate profits?
That’s what Kagi is attempting to perform. For $5 per thirty days — or $10 for limitless searches — you possibly can 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.” Should you’re at school, for instance, you should utilize Kagi’s educational lens to seek out journal articles a few matter, slightly than weblog posts.
Should you discover Google’s AI Overviews helpful every now and then, then you should utilize Kagi’s AI-powered “Fast Reply” function to summarize a solution to your search and embody hyperlinks to its sources. However if you happen to don’t need these AI summaries, guess what? You don’t should generate them.
DuckDuckGo
Perhaps you don’t need to pay to look stuff on-line. That’s comprehensible. DuckDuckGo presents a free search engine that makes cash by promoting advertisements, however not like Google, it doesn’t gather person knowledge within the type of search, looking, and buy historical past. As a substitute DuckDuckGo chooses what advertisements to serve primarily based on the subject of your search — so if you happen to seek for live performance tickets, you may see an advert for SeatGeek.
Like many various search engines like google and yahoo, DuckDuckGo has an interface that’s harking back to Google — and like Google, it may possibly show an AI-generated reply to a query in your search outcomes. But when that bothers you, DuckDuckGo permits you to utterly 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.
Which means that Startpage acts as a intermediary between you and the tech large. While 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 realizing who you might be. The draw back is, effectively, it’s nonetheless Google. Not less than Startpage helps you to flip off AI options.
&udm=14
What if you happen to took Startpage and made it easier? The search engine &udm=14 is known as for the string of characters it appends to all your searches on Google.
Should 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 possibly can run your personal model of &udm=14 if that’s your factor.
Should you’re involved about privateness, then you definately’d in all probability go for Startpage over &udm=14, however each will mainly get you AI-free Google.
Courageous
Brave presents each a browser and a search engine. For the reason that browser is constructed atop Chromium, which is identical open-source base as Google Chrome, you should utilize Chrome extensions throughout the Courageous browser. So, if you happen to don’t need to use Google Chrome, however you possibly can’t perform with out your LastPass plug-in, Courageous might 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 purpose you possibly can’t do that, Google.
Ecosia
Like Courageous, Ecosia additionally presents 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 title suggests, Ecosia’s essential draw is that it’s purported to be extra eco-friendly than different search platforms.
Ecosia makes cash from advertisements, but it surely donates about 80% of its earnings to tree-planting initiatives world wide. 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 concerning the precise impression of its efforts.
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