When I do a web search, I do not want Google to go to the websites for me, pull the information, and interpret it for me. I want it to give me a list of websites that I can read and evaluate myself because AI is frequently wrong: https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/19/google-search-as-you-know-it-is-over/
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On a more practical note:
Anybody have a list of ranges and user agents I can use to ban Google from ever again indexing my website(s)?
Are their “agentic search assistants” coming from the same places and with the same user agents?
For anyone that wants to turn it off
https://support.google.com/websearch/thread/381948916/how-to-shut-down-and-delete-the-ai-mode-from-google?hl=en
@evacide and since google still wants to make billions by selling keywords the llm summary will contain tailored wrong information catering to whoever pays the most.
It will be wrong on purpose.
The vast majority of third party search providers just use the google or bing index. I see a not so distant future where they stop selling access to the index. Killing off those other search engines over night.
@evacide That's why I don't use Google.
@evacide With the information at https://udm14.com/ its possible to get the regular search "back" (make it a default) again.
@evacide
"This shift means that “searching the web” will increasingly be performed by AI agents rather than humans."
At first I read "shit" instead of "shift" and it made sense all the same.
@evacide how do you decide what sources are trustworthy though? For youngsters learning this skill that's a thing they still have to master, and that's a long term journey.
I suspect that the newer generations prefer the AI way, because they search their question and get an answer. I've seen my own kids get frustrated with search results that didn't even come close to what they're looking for.
The fossil fuel interests behind Google's product development decisions aren't benign.
#PrinceBonesaw has his own agenda.
Information pollution to match his climate pollution & public corruption.
https://www.economist.com/1843/2022/07/28/mbs-despot-in-the-desert
https://archive.is/qddWQ
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/07/heres-a-look-at-who.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/05/13/trump-tech-execs-riyadh/
Koch Network has powerful allies in its ongoing anti-democracy propaganda efforts.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/technology/saudi-arabia-ai-exporter.html
@evacide they are really destroying the Internet, LLM contamination everywhere! 😡
@evacide
One of the techs at work was telling me about Windows 12 rumors that the user will ask copilot and copilot will run the apps. So there is always copilot between you and your programs.
@evacide thanks for the heads-up. I won't be using Google search.
@evacide
Google Search has been bad for quite a while now.
I switched to DDG 6 years ago when I moved to Linux Mint.
Even DDG can be meh at times, so I ocassionally use qwant or mogeek or ecosia to view alternatives.
@evacide Not to mention their black box AI gets to interpret the info how big tech wants it to. Billionaires already manipulate algorithms on their social media to push their agendas. You know damn well they will on their AI platforms.
@evacide I try to use https://www.mojeek.com/ as a first stop, close to the old GOOG but far fewer indexed pages and can be hit and miss so second stop usually https://www.ecosia.org/search
@evacide noai.duckduckgo.com
@evacide I agree with all the people in this thread who are saying to dump Google. I also think they maybe don't realize exactly how powerful and important Google search is to culture, the economy, politics, etc.
This has ramifications way beyond what search engine the people of Mastodon prefer.
(for the record, I use kagi.)
@evacide Dump Google.Try Duck Duck Go or Brave.
@evacide Watching the process that DeepSeek goes through, at lightning speed, allows me to guide it and get good results, similar to my own process of selecting web links to click, skimming information, etc. Only DeepSeek does it much faster and also elucidates the steps it is taking, while taking them. One doesn't believe the first website at the top of Google (and anyways, usually advertised), nor should one mindlessly take the first AI answer. Both processes, manual and with AI, require mindfulness.
@evacide fuck every single bit of that bullshit.
I switched to Duck Duck Go last week, apparently just in time. Google, once obsessively minimalist and functional, has descended into an ugly pile of crap. I can onlly hope the market gives them what they deserve. 😏
