“You WILL use AI, this is not negotiable”
-Google, probably
this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2025
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Technology
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How can it be profitable? Surely the energy cost would surpass that value of a single search?
Just so you know, it’s totally fine to ignore Google and use something better.
There was a time Google were orders of magnitude better than anyone else. Now with Google basically just pushing ads at the top and SEO articles taking over, the other search engines aren’t worse.
In any case, I find that DuckDuckGo is already enough for 90% of my searches and hence it’s my default. This simple fact made my dependency on Google very low nowadays, basically Gmail and Google Maps are the main thing I still use.
I only fall back to Google Search when I want something more tailored to my country news, something in my language or when I’m searching for something around me (like a store, business etc. which are all on Google Maps). These other search engines seem to be good mostly for English content and struggle to filter for things like “This search should be about country Y”.
I’m a practical person, so I don’t resort to extremist views like “100% free of Google”, but I guess these little gestures compound over time. Recently I’ve been also changing some services to use a different email (a private one) other than my Gmail address, just to avoid centralizing everything on Google, and so I’ve been effectively diversifying the services I depend on, which is good.
I’ve been using DDG for many years, and I haven’t looked back. Recently, I also set up Qwant on my laptop. So far, it’s been pretty smooth sailing.
Swapping Google Cancer to Apple Cancer is one way to reduce your dependence on Google, but I’m not entirely sure that really solves the underlying problem. Either way, there are a few Google services that I could replace with alternatives, but I just haven’t gotten around to it yet. I guess, one day I just need to start paying for a NextCloud subscription or something.
Not surprised nor shocked by this. It's the way that Google wants the web to go since they seemingly have a chokehold on the search market, and SEO 'experts' are following the trends.
Even DuckDuckGo is starting to slowly introduce 'Search Assistant' which prompted me to change to their No AI link which strips all that crap out. https://noai.duckduckgo.com/
Great.
Next stage in the enshitification-process. 😒
Can someone TL;DR on what "AI mode" is? Haven't used Google in a while, but it sounds like a chatbot to me.
You got it. It will be one click to search, one click up bypass the chatbot, and a scroll to bypass the AI overview.
What are you using for search?
Been using Kagi. It does everything I want, so as long as it continues to not serve ads and doesn't force me to use AI overviews or anything, I've got no major complaints. I hear there's a lot of other great options too though.
Just use a swear word in your search and bypass all the AI crap.
What if you are like me and you don't fucking swear?
Guess we’re fucked then.
Oh, shit!
Lol I love how people assume they won't load the AI up with even more ads than the traditional search results.
Just insert the ad into the middle of the AI slop paragraph. People won't even notice when that pizza receipt using soap contains an ad for Dove.
I've been sitting on the Pixel update bringing AI to my 7 Pro for 70+ days at this point. Been meaning to switch to Graphene, might be about that time.
Do it. It literally takes 15 minutes and like 5 clicks. If you've installed custom roms in the past you'll be amazed his much easier it is now.
That sounds pretty excellent! I think my hesitation stems from ensuring I back up the correct data currently on my phone as well as post-install setup. Can you elaborate on those processes?
I did the exact same thing, ignored the AI agent update and moved to Graphene. It really isn't hard, the Web Installer is extremely handy.
For the migration I just made a list of my apps, created backups of those that needed one, installed GOS and reinstalled my apps. Nothing special.
Hell yeah, sounds like a plan. Have you run into any compatibility issues? I've read that bank apps can have issues and my CU is unlikely to work. I tried setting their website up as a PWA but ran into VPN-related issues. Will do research myself but if you/another commenter has insight I'd appreciate it!
There's a crowdsourced list of compatible banking apps which could give you a hint. My banking app kept working.
What doesn't work is face unlock and contactless payment.l, e.g. Google Wallet. For the latter there may be workarounds, but I didn't care.
My Pixel 6's battery recently started expanding. I considered getting a new phone, but when I asked the dude at the kiosk what my options are for something that isn't filled with AI integration, he laughed.
I ordered a new battery online and had my phone fixed.
Where did you order your battery, and how did you replace it? My mom's 7a is having battery issues and this may be a good path for her.
Ai is sometimes correct.
My 6th grader is sometimes correct too, but I'd still rather ask real sources than take her word for everything.
Or better yet, ask or lookup multiple sources, so you can somewhat fact check.