Google Search: Difference between revisions

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Google Search is a search engine created and developed by [[Google|Google LLC]]. It was released on September 27th, 1998.

==Consumer-impact summary==

==Consumer impact summary==

~~===~~User ~~Privacy===~~

*'''User privacy:''' Google Search stores long-term cookies to save user's preferences, something that has raised privacy concerns.

Google Search stores long-term cookies to save user's preferences, something that has raised privacy concerns.

~~===~~User ~~Freedom===~~

*'''User freedom:''' Some features such as AI overview or AI mode cannot be completely disabled. The user cannot change the ranking of results other than by crafting queries and changing keywords. Google adds positive bias for ads and partner sites such as [[Reddit]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Expanding our Partnership with Google |url=https://redditinc.com/news/reddit-and-google-expand-partnership |url-status=live |website=[[Reddit]] |date=22 Feb 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251213184611/https://redditinc.com/news/reddit-and-google-expand-partnership |archive-date=2025-12-13 |access-date=12 Dec 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=An expanded partnership with Reddit |url=https://blog.google/company-news/inside-google/company-announcements/expanded-reddit-partnership/ |url-status=live |website=Google Blog |first=Rajan |last=Patel |date=22 Feb 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260112081436/https://blog.google/company-news/inside-google/company-announcements/expanded-reddit-partnership/ |archive-date=2026-01-12 |access-date=12 Jan 2026}}</ref>

Some features such as ~~disabling~~ AI overview or AI mode cannot be disabled.

===~~Business Model~~===

*'''Business model:''' Google Search engine gets revenue from ads shown at the top of search results.

Google Search engine gets revenue from ads shown at the top of search results.

~~===~~Market ~~Control===~~

*'''Market control:''' Google Search engine is the most used search engine in the world. According to StatCounter, Google Search has a 90.2% market share as of April 2026.<ref>{{Cite web |publisher=StatCounter |date=Apr 2026 |title=Search Engine Market Share Worldwide |url=https://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260518141238/https://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share |archive-date=2026-05-18 |access-date=21 May 2026 |website=StatCounter}}</ref> They pay [[Apple]] and [[Mozilla]] to be the default search engine on [[Safari]] and [[Firefox]], respectively.

Google Search engine is the most used search engine in the world. According to StatCounter, Google Search has a 90.2% market share as of April 2026. <ref>{{Cite web |publisher=StatCounter |date=Apr 2026 |title=Search Engine Market Share Worldwide |url=https://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260518141238/https://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share |archive-date=2026-05-18 |access-date=21 May 2026 |website=StatCounter}}</ref>

==Incidents==

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===AI Overview (2023)===

In May 2023, Google announced Search Generative Experience (SGE) for Google Search. AI Overview was released in May 2024 in the US. ~~This~~ feature appears at the top of search results, showing an AI-generated summary of the search.

In May 2023, Google announced Search Generative Experience (SGE) for Google Search. AI Overview was released in May 2024 in the U.S.A. as an AI-powered feature that appears at the top of search results, showing an AI-generated summary of the search query.

It has been ~~critiziced~~ for giving false information due to [[wikipedia:Hallucination_(artificial_intelligence)|hallucinations]] that even ~~involded~~ into suggesting ~~to perform~~ harmful activities. There's also criticism for its energy and resource consumption and how these summaries prevent people ~~to access to~~ web sites in order to get the information.

It has been criticized for giving false information due to [[wikipedia:Hallucination_(artificial_intelligence)|hallucinations]] that even devolved into suggesting performing harmful activities.<ref>{{Cite web |last=McMahon|first=Lov |last2=Kleinman |first2=Zoe |date=24 May 2024 |title=Glue pizza and eat rocks: Google AI search errors go viral |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd11gzejgz4o |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241008234240/https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd11gzejgz4o |archive-date=2024-10-08|access-date=25 May 2026 |website=BBC}}</ref> There's also criticism for its energy and resource consumption and how these summaries prevent people from accessing web sites in order to get the information.{{Citation needed|date=25 May 2026}}

There's no official method to completely disable AI Overview. However, ~~users have discovered that including offensive words in~~ search ~~prompts~~ prevents the Overview ~~summary~~ to appear {{~~Citation needed~~}}.

The implementation of this feature has ended in some cases involving lawsuits due to the misinformation provided by hallucinations<ref>{{Cite web |last=Martin|first=Emmy |date=13 Jun 2025|title=Minnesota Solar Company Sues Google Over AI Summary |url=https://www.govtech.com/public-safety/minnesota-solar-company-sues-google-over-ai-summary |url-status=live|access-date=25 May 2026 |website=Government Technology}}</ref><ref>https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mnd.225722/gov.uscourts.mnd.225722.1.1.pdf</ref> and site owners suing Google for copyright infringements and antitrust practices.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Meen|first=Andy |date=14 Sep 2025|title=Why Rolling Stone Owner Penske Media Just Declared War On Google|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/andymeek/2025/09/14/why-rolling-stone-owner-penske-media-just-declared-war-on-google/ |url-status=live |access-date=25 May 2026 |website=Forbes}}</ref>

There's no official method to completely disable AI Overview from search results. However, adding <code>-ai</code> at the end of search queries prevents the AI Overview to appear.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stimac|first=Blake |date=20 Apr 2026 |title=How to Tell Google's AI Features to Leave You Alone, Once and for All |url=https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/how-to-tell-googles-ai-features-to-leave-you-alone-once-and-for-all/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260524051148/https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/how-to-tell-googles-ai-features-to-leave-you-alone-once-and-for-all/ |archive-date=2026-05-24 |access-date=25 May 2026 |website=CNet}}</ref>

===AI Mode (2025)===

AI mode is a feature introduced for Google Search in 2025 as an alternative form to search information on the web.

AI mode is a feature introduced for Google Search in 2025 as an alternative form to search information on the web. It uses a chat interface and [[artificial intelligence]] to search the web and find the content that might be relevant for the user. Like AI overview, there's no official way to disable this feature.

https://www.makeuseof.com/googles-new-ai-search-will-have-ads-hidden-in-your-answers/

In 2026, Google will introduce integrated ads into AI overview and AI mode. These ads might appear in the conversations with Google's AIs with a similar appearence to a regular answer, but they contain a small "sponsored" tag at the top of the reply, something that might be hard do identify at first glance. This form of integration has raised privacy and concerns about the potential usage of AI for manipulation and potential integrations that might make nearly impossible to differentiate between content that is and isn't an ad. <ref>{{Cite web |last=Hawkins|first=Josh|date=21 May 2026|title=Google's new AI search ads are designed to look like helpful answers |url=https://www.makeuseof.com/googles-new-ai-search-will-have-ads-hidden-in-your-answers/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260522223816/https://www.makeuseof.com/googles-new-ai-search-will-have-ads-hidden-in-your-answers/ |archive-date=2026-05-22 |access-date=22 May 2026 |website=Make Use Of}}</ref>

===Additional AI integrations in Google Search (2026)===

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[[Category:~~{{PAGENAME}}~~]]

[[Category:Google| ]]

[[Category:Products]]

@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 Google Search is a search engine created and developed by [[Google|Google LLC]]. It was released on September 27th, 1998.
-==Consumer-impact summary==
+==Consumer impact summary==
-===User Privacy===
+*'''User privacy:''' Google Search stores long-term cookies to save user's preferences, something that has raised privacy concerns.
-Google Search stores long-term cookies to save user's preferences, something that has raised privacy concerns.
-===User Freedom===
+*'''User freedom:''' Some features such as AI overview or AI mode cannot be completely disabled. The user cannot change the ranking of results other than by crafting queries and changing keywords. Google adds positive bias for ads and partner sites such as [[Reddit]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Expanding our Partnership with Google |url=https://redditinc.com/news/reddit-and-google-expand-partnership |url-status=live |website=[[Reddit]] |date=22 Feb 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251213184611/https://redditinc.com/news/reddit-and-google-expand-partnership |archive-date=2025-12-13 |access-date=12 Dec 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=An expanded partnership with Reddit |url=https://blog.google/company-news/inside-google/company-announcements/expanded-reddit-partnership/ |url-status=live |website=Google Blog |first=Rajan |last=Patel |date=22 Feb 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260112081436/https://blog.google/company-news/inside-google/company-announcements/expanded-reddit-partnership/ |archive-date=2026-01-12 |access-date=12 Jan 2026}}</ref>
-Some features such as disabling AI overview or AI mode cannot be disabled.
-===Business Model===
+*'''Business model:''' Google Search engine gets revenue from ads shown at the top of search results.
-Google Search engine gets revenue from ads shown at the top of search results.
-===Market Control===
+*'''Market control:''' Google Search engine is the most used search engine in the world. According to StatCounter, Google Search has a 90.2% market share as of April 2026.<ref>{{Cite web |publisher=StatCounter |date=Apr 2026 |title=Search Engine Market Share Worldwide |url=https://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260518141238/https://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share |archive-date=2026-05-18 |access-date=21 May 2026 |website=StatCounter}}</ref> They pay [[Apple]] and [[Mozilla]] to be the default search engine on [[Safari]] and [[Firefox]], respectively.
-Google Search engine is the most used search engine in the world. According to StatCounter, Google Search has a 90.2% market share as of April 2026. <ref>{{Cite web |publisher=StatCounter |date=Apr 2026 |title=Search Engine Market Share Worldwide |url=https://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260518141238/https://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share |archive-date=2026-05-18 |access-date=21 May 2026 |website=StatCounter}}</ref>
 ==Incidents==
@@ Line 34: / Line 34: @@
 ===AI Overview (2023)===
-In May 2023, Google announced Search Generative Experience (SGE) for Google Search. AI Overview was released in May 2024 in the US. This feature appears at the top of search results, showing an AI-generated summary of the search.
+In May 2023, Google announced Search Generative Experience (SGE) for Google Search. AI Overview was released in May 2024 in the U.S.A. as an AI-powered feature that appears at the top of search results, showing an AI-generated summary of the search query.
-It has been critiziced for giving false information due to [[wikipedia:Hallucination_(artificial_intelligence)|hallucinations]] that even involded into suggesting to perform harmful activities. There's also criticism for its energy and resource consumption and how these summaries prevent people to access to web sites in order to get the information.
+It has been criticized for giving false information due to [[wikipedia:Hallucination_(artificial_intelligence)|hallucinations]] that even devolved into suggesting performing harmful activities.<ref>{{Cite web |last=McMahon|first=Lov |last2=Kleinman |first2=Zoe |date=24 May 2024 |title=Glue pizza and eat rocks: Google AI search errors go viral |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd11gzejgz4o  |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241008234240/https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd11gzejgz4o |archive-date=2024-10-08|access-date=25 May 2026 |website=BBC}}</ref> There's also criticism for its energy and resource consumption and how these summaries prevent people from accessing web sites in order to get the information.{{Citation needed|date=25 May 2026}}
-There's no official method to completely disable AI Overview. However, users have discovered that including offensive words in search prompts prevents the Overview summary to appear {{Citation needed}}.
+The implementation of this feature has ended in some cases involving lawsuits due to the misinformation provided by hallucinations<ref>{{Cite web |last=Martin|first=Emmy |date=13 Jun 2025|title=Minnesota Solar Company Sues Google Over AI Summary |url=https://www.govtech.com/public-safety/minnesota-solar-company-sues-google-over-ai-summary |url-status=live|access-date=25 May 2026 |website=Government Technology}}</ref><ref>https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mnd.225722/gov.uscourts.mnd.225722.1.1.pdf</ref> and site owners suing Google for copyright infringements and antitrust practices.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Meen|first=Andy |date=14 Sep 2025|title=Why Rolling Stone Owner Penske Media Just Declared War On Google|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/andymeek/2025/09/14/why-rolling-stone-owner-penske-media-just-declared-war-on-google/ |url-status=live |access-date=25 May 2026 |website=Forbes}}</ref>
+There's no official method to completely disable AI Overview from search results. However, adding <code>-ai</code> at the end of search queries prevents the AI Overview to appear.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stimac|first=Blake |date=20 Apr 2026 |title=How to Tell Google's AI Features to Leave You Alone, Once and for All |url=https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/how-to-tell-googles-ai-features-to-leave-you-alone-once-and-for-all/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260524051148/https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/how-to-tell-googles-ai-features-to-leave-you-alone-once-and-for-all/ |archive-date=2026-05-24 |access-date=25 May 2026 |website=CNet}}</ref>
 ===AI Mode (2025)===
-AI mode is a feature introduced for Google Search in 2025 as an alternative form to search information on the web.
+AI mode is a feature introduced for Google Search in 2025 as an alternative form to search information on the web. It uses a chat interface and [[artificial intelligence]] to search the web and find the content that might be relevant for the user. Like AI overview, there's no official way to disable this feature.
-https://www.makeuseof.com/googles-new-ai-search-will-have-ads-hidden-in-your-answers/
+In 2026, Google will introduce integrated ads into AI overview and AI mode. These ads might appear in the conversations with Google's AIs with a similar appearence  to a regular answer, but they contain a small "sponsored" tag at the top of the reply, something that might be hard do identify at first glance. This form of integration has raised privacy and concerns about the potential usage of AI for manipulation and potential integrations that might make nearly impossible to differentiate between content that is and isn't an ad. <ref>{{Cite web |last=Hawkins|first=Josh|date=21 May 2026|title=Google's new AI search ads are designed to look like helpful answers |url=https://www.makeuseof.com/googles-new-ai-search-will-have-ads-hidden-in-your-answers/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260522223816/https://www.makeuseof.com/googles-new-ai-search-will-have-ads-hidden-in-your-answers/ |archive-date=2026-05-22 |access-date=22 May 2026 |website=Make Use Of}}</ref>
 ===Additional AI integrations in Google Search (2026)===
@@ Line 60: / Line 63: @@
 {{reflist}}
-[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
+[[Category:Google| ]]
+[[Category:Products]]