You knew it was coming: Google begins testing AI-only search results

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The company has announced an expansion of its AI search features, powered by Gemini 2.0. Everyone will soon see more AI Overviews at the top of the results page, but Google is also testing a more substantial change in the form of AI Mode. This version of Google won't show you the 10 blue links at all—Gemini completely takes over the results in AI Mode.

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If this sounds like something you absolutely do not want, you can safely ignore it for now. The experimental feature is only available for Google One AI Premium subscribers, who pay $20 per month for access to Google's best LLMs. This could be an indication that generating these search pages is extremely costly even for a company that gives away so much AI processing for free. Still, Google's AI efforts move fast, and you could find yourself confronted with AI Mode soon. It only took a few months for the Search Generative Experience to graduate from Labs as AI Overviews.

from the primary source on Google's own blog:

As we’ve rolled out AI Overviews, we’ve heard from power users that they want AI responses for even more of their searches.

uh-huh. sure. "power users" have been banging down your door and insisting they want more search results that say it's safe to eat one rock per day.

and these "power users" have apparently also been demanding that Google remove the normal search results that appear below the AI-generated slop.