4 ms·

The only reason Google is pushing this AI crap is so that they can shove ads right into people's throats without them being able to use ad blockers (it's easy t

The only reason Google is pushing this AI crap is so that they can shove ads right into people's throats without them being able to use ad blockers (it's easy to block a web script but virtually impossible to block the text itself), effectively doubling their profits overnight.

superloika 4mo ago
Block the AI overviews with extensions like https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/hide-google-ai-overviews/neibhohkbmfjninidnaoacabkjonbahn https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/hide-google-ai-over... or use a userscript to do the same.
- tremon 4mo ago
  You can block the entire AI response, but not the paid-for product placement in the response separately.
  - superloika 4mo ago
    Block the entire AI response. It's not a good thing. It tells you whatever google wants you to see. It's an incredibly powerful brainwashing tool.
    - hootz 4mo ago
      The search results without AI also tell you whatever Google wants you to see. The immediate solution is not to block AI summaries, it's to stop using Google entirely.
      - SJMG 4mo ago
        Not to mention the entire well is "poisoned" now. You can avoid LLM points of entry. You can't go to a random source and expect to avoid generative output.
        superloika 4mo ago
        There is a way to see old results, by adding "before:2023" to the search query.
        SJMG 4mo ago
        Great, as long as you don't mind the nexus of all human communication to be frozen in time three years ago.
        superloika 4mo ago
        For many queries it does not matter.
    - sgt 4mo ago
      These days, the AI response is often a lot better than the actual search results. Search result quality has dropped drastically the last decade. Sometimes it feels even Altavista had better results than today's Google.
  - onionisafruit 4mo ago
    The blog post says ‘These formats will also continue to be clearly labeled as “Sponsored.”’. We will probably be able to block them about as well as we can block sponsored search results.
- delecti 4mo ago
  Alternatively, just change your browser's default search shortcut, and add &udm=14 to the end of the normal google search. It changes the default search results to "web" rather than "All", which removes all the extraneous crap they've added over the years. Compare https://www.google.com/search?q=test https://www.google.com/search?q=test to https://www.google.com/search?q=test&udm=14 https://www.google.com/search?q=test&udm=14
  - svieira 4mo ago
    The wild thing is how much faster it is to load. I'd almost forgotten how fast Google's default search used to be. Thank you!
  - inetknght 4mo ago
    Or even better: stop using Google. Use Kagi instead.
  - nosioptar 4mo ago
    Both just give me a recaptcha. Start page doesn't: https://www.startpage.com/sp/search?q=test https://www.startpage.com/sp/search?q=test
    - venusenvy47 4mo ago
      Which search engines does it use? I couldn't find info, and I'm just curious.
      - nialv7 4mo ago
        Can't find full list either, but it at least includes Bing and Google: https://support.startpage.com/hc/en-us/articles/4522435533844-What-is-the-relationship-between-Startpage-and-your-search-partners-like-Google-and-Microsoft-Bing https://support.startpage.com/hc/en-us/articles/452243553384...
        ai_fry_ur_brain 4mo ago
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 4mo ago
  Could also just block the element in ublock?
spiderfarmer 4mo ago
Competitors will be very happy though.
elpocko 4mo ago
This might come as a surprise to many, but the sole reason Google exist is to make a profit. More profit means more success means more profit, that's why they did create a company in the first place. Mindblowing stuff, that.
pbasista 4mo ago
> but virtually impossible to block the text itself Why do you believe so? As long as there is a clear indication somewhere on the webpage (in the metadata or in the text itself) that a specific portion of a text is an ad, a browser extension will be able to block it. And I assume that there are laws mandating that the ads must be clearly marked in order to be distinguishable from the genuine content.
- hootz 4mo ago
  That's only doable if the ads are artificially injected. But what if they are part of the training, system prompt or the search results that are fed to the AI? What if Google Search bumps up their paying advertiser up in the internal search results for Gemini (as they are basically already doing)? The AI will be biased towards the advertisers without literally embedding an ad into the output text.
  - pbasista 4mo ago
    > if they are part of the training That would be an intentional poisoning of the models with biased or outright untruthful data. I believe that many people would be unwilling to use such models.
    - hootz 4mo ago
      They won't be if the models are "free", which is the case for AI Mode in Google Search. That's why common people still use Google despite it being an ad-ridden slopfest, it's "free"!
  - HWR_14 4mo ago
    > what if they are part of the training No way Google is going to bake the ads into training data. Their entire business is built on auctioning off each ad slot in realtime.
- creationcomplex 4mo ago
  The law will not be updated or enforced. Laws don't reflect justice, they reflect the power relations in the society at the time the law was written. Big tech is paying handsomely for this, and I don't think the populace is going to outbribe them.
fg137 4mo ago
Semi-seriously: I imagine we'll live to see the day when we run an adblocker that runs a small model to semantically filter out ads in Google search results
- ryanschaefer 4mo ago
  Entirely accurate, but what an absolute waste of resources across the board.
- fnands 4mo ago
  Fighting AI with AI? What a wild future.
  - Zopieux 4mo ago
    I realistically don't see what other future there is. Either disconnect or adopt anti-grievance local AI, lest you be bombarded with ads and slop everywhere. The first thing you install on your browser is uBlock, is it not? Don't get me wrong, I hate this timeline, but the monster is out the box and there is no putting it back in.
- alex_suzuki 4mo ago
  Sounds like a good fit for a small, on-device model. Can Chrome extensions use the new Prompt API, which has caused a stir because Google pushed it through against opposition of virtually everyone else? (https://developer.chrome.com/docs/ai/prompt-api https://developer.chrome.com/docs/ai/prompt-api) Would be hilarious.
- XCSme 4mo ago
  You won't be able to tell if it's an ad, if it's just biased (and the ad is not discolsed). They could always sell ads like "recommend my tool more when user asks for cupcakes in London". And then, the output would be: "My top 3 recomendations are X, Y, Z". And maybe only X is the one that paid and Y and Z are organic.
  - johneth 4mo ago
deleted 4mo ago
[deleted]
skinfaxi 4mo ago
In the US at least, I believe the FTC requires ads to be clear and conspicuous when those ads are designed to otherwise blend into the general editorial style. I could see AI being regulated as influencer marketing, but hopefully with more enforcement.
deleted 4mo ago
[deleted]
cyral 4mo ago
Another massive reason is that ChatGPT and similar apps are eating their lunch. Asking a question to ChatGPT actually tends to be pretty convenient compared to the top X results that are just SEO optimized slop.
hotgeart 4mo ago
There's no way EU would let Google display ads without clearly marking them as such. So any ad blocker should be able to continue detect the block or link that's an ad.

superloika 4mo ago

Block the AI overviews with extensions like https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/hide-google-ai-overviews/neibhohkbmfjninidnaoacabkjonbahn https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/hide-google-ai-over... or use a userscript to do the same.

tremon 4mo ago
You can block the entire AI response, but not the paid-for product placement in the response separately.
- superloika 4mo ago
  Block the entire AI response. It's not a good thing. It tells you whatever google wants you to see. It's an incredibly powerful brainwashing tool.
  - hootz 4mo ago
    The search results without AI also tell you whatever Google wants you to see. The immediate solution is not to block AI summaries, it's to stop using Google entirely.
    - SJMG 4mo ago
      Not to mention the entire well is "poisoned" now. You can avoid LLM points of entry. You can't go to a random source and expect to avoid generative output.
      - superloika 4mo ago
        There is a way to see old results, by adding "before:2023" to the search query.
        SJMG 4mo ago
        Great, as long as you don't mind the nexus of all human communication to be frozen in time three years ago.
        superloika 4mo ago
        For many queries it does not matter.
  - sgt 4mo ago
    These days, the AI response is often a lot better than the actual search results. Search result quality has dropped drastically the last decade. Sometimes it feels even Altavista had better results than today's Google.
- onionisafruit 4mo ago
  The blog post says ‘These formats will also continue to be clearly labeled as “Sponsored.”’. We will probably be able to block them about as well as we can block sponsored search results.
delecti 4mo ago
Alternatively, just change your browser's default search shortcut, and add &udm=14 to the end of the normal google search. It changes the default search results to "web" rather than "All", which removes all the extraneous crap they've added over the years. Compare https://www.google.com/search?q=test https://www.google.com/search?q=test to https://www.google.com/search?q=test&udm=14 https://www.google.com/search?q=test&udm=14
- svieira 4mo ago
  The wild thing is how much faster it is to load. I'd almost forgotten how fast Google's default search used to be. Thank you!
- inetknght 4mo ago
  Or even better: stop using Google. Use Kagi instead.
- nosioptar 4mo ago
  Both just give me a recaptcha. Start page doesn't: https://www.startpage.com/sp/search?q=test https://www.startpage.com/sp/search?q=test
  - venusenvy47 4mo ago
    Which search engines does it use? I couldn't find info, and I'm just curious.
    - nialv7 4mo ago
      Can't find full list either, but it at least includes Bing and Google: https://support.startpage.com/hc/en-us/articles/4522435533844-What-is-the-relationship-between-Startpage-and-your-search-partners-like-Google-and-Microsoft-Bing https://support.startpage.com/hc/en-us/articles/452243553384...
      - ai_fry_ur_brain 4mo ago
2OEH8eoCRo0 4mo ago
Could also just block the element in ublock?

spiderfarmer 4mo ago

Competitors will be very happy though.

elpocko 4mo ago

This might come as a surprise to many, but the sole reason Google exist is to make a profit. More profit means more success means more profit, that's why they did create a company in the first place. Mindblowing stuff, that.

pbasista 4mo ago

> but virtually impossible to block the text itself Why do you believe so? As long as there is a clear indication somewhere on the webpage (in the metadata or in the text itself) that a specific portion of a text is an ad, a browser extension will be able to block it. And I assume that there are laws mandating that the ads must be clearly marked in order to be distinguishable from the genuine content.

hootz 4mo ago
That's only doable if the ads are artificially injected. But what if they are part of the training, system prompt or the search results that are fed to the AI? What if Google Search bumps up their paying advertiser up in the internal search results for Gemini (as they are basically already doing)? The AI will be biased towards the advertisers without literally embedding an ad into the output text.
- pbasista 4mo ago
  > if they are part of the training That would be an intentional poisoning of the models with biased or outright untruthful data. I believe that many people would be unwilling to use such models.
  - hootz 4mo ago
    They won't be if the models are "free", which is the case for AI Mode in Google Search. That's why common people still use Google despite it being an ad-ridden slopfest, it's "free"!
- HWR_14 4mo ago
  > what if they are part of the training No way Google is going to bake the ads into training data. Their entire business is built on auctioning off each ad slot in realtime.
creationcomplex 4mo ago
The law will not be updated or enforced. Laws don't reflect justice, they reflect the power relations in the society at the time the law was written. Big tech is paying handsomely for this, and I don't think the populace is going to outbribe them.

fg137 4mo ago

Semi-seriously: I imagine we'll live to see the day when we run an adblocker that runs a small model to semantically filter out ads in Google search results

ryanschaefer 4mo ago
Entirely accurate, but what an absolute waste of resources across the board.
fnands 4mo ago
Fighting AI with AI? What a wild future.
- Zopieux 4mo ago
  I realistically don't see what other future there is. Either disconnect or adopt anti-grievance local AI, lest you be bombarded with ads and slop everywhere. The first thing you install on your browser is uBlock, is it not? Don't get me wrong, I hate this timeline, but the monster is out the box and there is no putting it back in.
alex_suzuki 4mo ago
Sounds like a good fit for a small, on-device model. Can Chrome extensions use the new Prompt API, which has caused a stir because Google pushed it through against opposition of virtually everyone else? (https://developer.chrome.com/docs/ai/prompt-api https://developer.chrome.com/docs/ai/prompt-api) Would be hilarious.
XCSme 4mo ago
You won't be able to tell if it's an ad, if it's just biased (and the ad is not discolsed). They could always sell ads like "recommend my tool more when user asks for cupcakes in London". And then, the output would be: "My top 3 recomendations are X, Y, Z". And maybe only X is the one that paid and Y and Z are organic.
- johneth 4mo ago

deleted 4mo ago

[deleted]

skinfaxi 4mo ago

In the US at least, I believe the FTC requires ads to be clear and conspicuous when those ads are designed to otherwise blend into the general editorial style. I could see AI being regulated as influencer marketing, but hopefully with more enforcement.

deleted 4mo ago

[deleted]

cyral 4mo ago

Another massive reason is that ChatGPT and similar apps are eating their lunch. Asking a question to ChatGPT actually tends to be pretty convenient compared to the top X results that are just SEO optimized slop.

hotgeart 4mo ago

There's no way EU would let Google display ads without clearly marking them as such. So any ad blocker should be able to continue detect the block or link that's an ad.