Google’s ‘New Era for AI Search’ May Threaten Democracy (opens in new tab)

Tech Policy: “At its I/O conference in May, Google announced what it called the biggest overhaul of Search in more than 25 years. Since 2024, Google Search has moved through several phases: from legacy search, which used some personal data to rank results; to AI Overviews, AI-synthesized summaries displayed above traditional results; and now to AI Mode, a fully conversational interface that can now draw on Gmail, Google Photos, and Calendar to personalize responses. While framed as improving ...