AI Overviews: How to Search Google Without the AI Answer
After spilling olive oil all over my brand-new T-shirt, I did what everyone does. I Googled how to fix it.
But I don't know about you. I'm getting pretty sick of AI Overviews popping up every time I Google something.
Sometimes I just want to search.
I want to see the websites, compare the information and decide for myself what I think is useful.
Instead, an AI-generated answer can now appear at the top of the search results before I've even looked at a website.
The good news is that you can still use Google without relying on the AI-generated summary.
What are Google AI Overviews?
Google AI Overviews provide an AI-generated summary in response to certain searches.
Instead of simply giving you a list of links, Google can use AI to pull information together and present an answer directly in the search results.
That can be useful when you're looking for a quick answer.
But there is a trade-off.
When the answer is presented immediately, you may be less likely to click through to the original websites, compare different sources or think about where the information came from.
That matters when you're researching something that requires more than a quick answer.
How to search Google without AI Overviews
Google has a Web option that gives you a much simpler search experience.
Here's how to find it:
Google something as you normally would.
At the top of your search results, you'll see tabs such as All, Images and Maps.
Scroll across to the right and click More.
Look for Web in the list.
Click Web.
You'll then see a list of website links rather than the AI Overview dominating the top of the results.
It's basically Google circa 2012, when you actually had to click on websites to find the answers to your questions.
And while Web mode generally removes the sponsored results that appear at the top of a normal Google search, ads can still appear.
Why does this matter when we're researching?
This isn't about saying AI Overviews are always bad.
It's about recognising that how we search affects how we find and evaluate information.
If an AI-generated answer gives you everything you need at the top of the page, you might never look at the websites underneath it.
You might not check who published the information.
You might not compare different sources.
You might not notice that two websites disagree.
You might simply read the answer and move on.
That can be a problem when you're researching something important.
AI-generated search results are still generated by AI. They need to be treated as information to evaluate, not automatically accepted as the final answer.
Google search and critical thinking
One of the things I talk about when working with students is the importance of not outsourcing all of our thinking to technology.
That applies to search engines too.
When students research a topic, there's value in having them find different sources, look at who created them, consider when they were published and compare what they say.
That process helps develop critical thinking and AI literacy.
The goal isn't to avoid technology.
It's to understand when technology is helping us and when it might be doing too much of the thinking for us.
If you're researching a topic for an assignment, for example, clicking through to the original websites can give you much more context than simply reading an AI-generated summary.
You can see the source.
You can read the full explanation.
You can compare it with another source.
And importantly, you can make your own judgement.
Try Web mode next time you Google something
Next time you Google something, try switching to Web mode.
Especially when you're:
researching a topic
comparing information
checking whether something you've seen online is accurate
looking for the original source
trying to understand an issue rather than simply getting a quick answer
Sometimes the best way to use technology is to make sure it doesn't do all the work for you.
You don't have to accept the AI answer simply because it's sitting at the top of the page.
You can still search.
You can still compare.
And you can still use your own brain to work out what you think.
