Guide to AI in Search Results
What AI summaries are, why they can be wrong, and how to reduce or remove them
AI IN YOUR SEARCH RESULTS
When you search for something, the first thing you see is now often a summary written by artificial intelligence (AI), above the usual list of websites. Google calls these AI Overviews, and Microsoft’s Bing uses its Copilot assistant. They pull together information from several websites and present it as a short answer.
The advantages
- A quick answer to a simple question, without opening several websites.
- Can be useful for explaining a topic in plain language.
The drawbacks
- They can be confidently wrong, and give no sign that they are.
- They’ve been known to repeat scammers’ phone numbers.
- They push the original websites further down the page.
Whether you keep them is entirely up to you. Many people find them helpful for everyday questions. Others prefer a plain list of websites, so that they can see where information comes from and judge it for themselves. This guide shows how to reduce or remove them if you’d rather not see them. Our Guide to Search Engines compares the main search engines.
ALWAYS CHECK WHAT MATTERS
Whether or not you use AI summaries, check anything important, such as health advice, money matters or a phone number to ring, on the organisation’s own website, or on your bill, statement or letter.
Google doesn’t offer a setting to switch AI Overviews off, but its Web view shows the traditional list of websites without them, and there are two ways to use it.
FOR A SINGLE SEARCH
After searching, click Web in the row of options below the search box, alongside Images and News. If you can’t see it, click More first.
FOR EVERY SEARCH, ON A COMPUTER
You can make Google’s Web view your browser’s standard search. These steps work in Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Brave:
- Open your browser’s Settings, type search engine into the settings search box, and choose Manage search engines.
- Next to Site search, click Add.
- Enter Google Web as the name and gw as the shortcut. In the box labelled URL with %s in place of query, enter https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14 exactly as shown. This only works here, not typed into the address bar.
- Click Add, then click the three dots next to Google Web and choose Make default.
Searches from the address bar will then open in Google’s Web view: a plain list of websites, with Web highlighted below the search box and no AI Overview. The Google home page itself will still show AI Overviews, so search from the address bar rather than from google.com.
ON A PHONE OR TABLET
Phones don’t allow this kind of custom search, so the simplest option is to switch to a search engine that lets you turn AI off, such as DuckDuckGo or Startpage, which are covered below.
OTHER SEARCH ENGINES
DuckDuckGo
The simplest option. Use noai.duckduckgo.com, which has AI switched off, or on the normal DuckDuckGo site open Settings, then AI Features, set Search Assist to Never and switch off Duck.ai. It works the same on computers, phones and tablets.
Startpage
Shows Google’s results privately, without Google’s AI Overviews and without tracking you. It has no AI summaries to switch off, which makes it a good choice for a phone or tablet.
Brave Search
Its AI answers can be switched off in its settings, reached from the menu at the top right of the results page.
Microsoft Bing
Microsoft has removed most of the settings that once reduced its Copilot answers, and those that remain don’t remove them entirely. If you’d rather avoid AI, we suggest using a different search engine.
Search engines change these features often, so a setting may move or change name. If you can’t find it, we’re happy to help.
WE CAN HELP
We can set up your computer, phone and tablet to show plain search results, or keep the AI summaries and show you how to check them, whichever you prefer.
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