Google says adding more AI to its search engine will rejuvenate the internet. Others predict an apocalypse for websites. One thing is clear: this era of online history is closing.

Google says a new AI tool on its search engine will rejuvenate the internet. Others predict an apocalypse for websites. One thing is clear: the current chapter of online history is careening towards its end. Welcome to the “machine web”.

The web is built on a simple bargain – websites let search engines like Google slurp up their content, free of charge, and Google Search sends people to websites in exchange, where they buy things and look at adverts. That’s how most sites make money.

An estimated 68% of internet activity starts on search engines and about 90% of searches happen on Google. If the internet is a garden, Google is the Sun that lets the flowers grow.

This arrangement held strong for decades, but a seemingly minor change has some convinced that the system is crumbling. You’ll soon see a new AI tool on Google Search. You may find it very useful. But if critics’ predictions come true, it will also have seismic consequences for the internet. They paint a picture where quality information could grow scarcer online and large numbers of people might lose their jobs. Optimists say instead this could improve the web’s business model and expand opportunities to find great content. But, for better or worse, your digital experiences may never be the same again.

On 20 May 2025, Google’s chief executive Sundar Pichai walked on stage at the company’s annual developer conference. It’s been a year since the launch of AI Overviews, the AI-generated responses you’ve probably seen at the top of Google Search results. Now, Pichai said, Google is going further. “For those who want an end-to-end AI Search experience, we are introducing an all-new AI Mode,” he said. “It’s a total reimagining of Search.”

You might be sceptical after years of AI hype, but this, for once, is the real deal.

  • fubarx@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    17 hours ago

    I have friends working on ways for content providers to charge AI training models. But I have a feeling that’s not enough.

    The future will have to be where creators have an incentive to consistently create, and consumers pay for what they like, or services to keep them informed and entertained without them having to do much.

    In between will sit middlemen and aggregators to enable a smooth flow. Who that will be and what they do in this next phase is the big question.

    Under the current method, Google’s search and ads groups are competing against each other. Don’t see that going well for anyone.

    • outhouseperilous@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      1·
      3 hours ago

      What if capitalism is just feasting on its own entrails, and we cant stop it from killing itself without killing it, and we need to stop trying to keep this monstrous fucking system alive?

      What if we tried literally anything else?

    • dil@lemmy.zipEnglish
      1·
      14 hours ago

      I just want a platform for independent creators with no ai or clipping,wild how that doesn’t exist, or just a platform for creatives, will never happen, my feed will always be ppl yapping about nonsence division over race, gender, religion, never what I care about, which is entertainment, idc all I care about is art and entertainment not why ppl hate all men, women, black, indian , etc. ppl or why someone else saying that hurt them, it never ends.

      I don’t want it gone forever, Im not delusional enough to expect that, I just want it not to be pushed on my feed or allowed on the platform im on. Just one space for art/entertainment free from all that, or a return back to how the internet was when I was a kid, before social media and reddit killed everything.

      I just want to see original content made by people trying, some effort put in, time spent editing, creating, planning, etc. I don’t want to waste my time watching stuff where people don’t put any time in themselves. Clipping and Ai is so annoying, if ppl want to post their own content thats fine, but my feed on these platforms ends up being purely twitch streams, tv show clips, movie scenes, low effort ai video generation, etc.

      Ideal platform would require your content actually being original, ppl posting unoriginal low effort content would actually get banned, no direct prompt to video/image ai, fine if its used ethically (masking tools, etc.) and in an actually skilled way (very rarely do see that on ocassion by 3d artists combining their stuff with ai), but the vast majority are throwing out low effort garbage to spam content hoping it hits the algorithim and blows them up so they can automate and make money)

      Never happening tho.