Block Google AI Summaries: Chrome Setup and Extension Guide

Google and Microsoft have forced AI-generated responses into their search results, creating a serious problem for anyone seeking reliable information. These AI tools are fundamentally unreliable: they fabricate facts, generate nonsense with apparent confidence, actively contributing to the spread of misinformation online. Worse still, they steal content from legitimate websites, summarizing and regurgitating information without sending traffic to the original sources, effectively parasitizing the very sites that create the content they’re built on.

Table of Contents

• How to Disable Google AI Overviews

• Method 1: Use the Web Tab (Quick Solution)

• Method 2: Set Up Chrome to Default to Web Results (Desktop)

• Subscribe for Updates on Alternative Music and Culture

• Method 3: Browser Extension (Easiest)

• Method 4: Add a Search Modifier

• Method 5: Manual URL Edit

• Mobile Solutions for Google

• Alternative Search Engines Without AI

• Important Limitations to Know

• Google Limitations

• The Future of AI in Search

Google AI Overviews (formerly Search Generative Experience or SGE) generates summaries at the top of search results that frequently contain errors, hallucinations, and outright fabrications. The AI scrapes content from websites without properly crediting them or sending meaningful traffic their way.

Microsoft hasn’t backed down from this perverse competition to see who can provide the most bullshit. Bing Copilot does the same, presenting AI-generated responses that steal content from real websites while depriving those sites of the visitors and ad revenue they need to survive, and it’s even worse considering that in a recent update they removed the option to opt-out.

Both systems are built on a business model that undermines the open web: they extract value from content creators while giving nothing back.

Why You SHOULD Disable AI Search Features

• Rampant inaccuracy: AI regularly invents facts, misinterprets information, and presents false information as truth.
• Spread of misinformation: When an AI confidently states something false, users believe it. This contributes directly to the proliferation of fake news and misconceptions.
• Content theft: These systems steal the work of journalists, bloggers, researchers, and content creators, presenting their information without sending traffic to the original sources.
• Destruction of the web ecosystem: Websites need visitors to survive. AI Overviews and Copilot responses mean fewer clicks to actual sites, threatening the economic viability of independent content creation, undermining their pool of sources as well. The fewer the visits to those websites, the less people with real knowledge will share their skills.
• No accountability: When AI generates false information, there’s no one to hold responsible.

How to Disable Google AI Overviews

Method 1: Use the Web Tab (Quick Solution)

The simplest way to avoid AI Overviews is to click the “Web” tab that appears under the search bar after performing a search (it might be hidden in the “More” tab). This filters out AI content and shows only traditional web links.

Limitations: You must manually click “Web” for every search query.

Method 2: Set Up Chrome to Default to Web Results (Desktop)

For a permanent solution in Chrome:

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1. Type chrome://settings/searchEngines into your address bar
2. Navigate to Search Engine > Manage search engines and site search
3. Click the Add button next to “Site search”
4. Fill in the following details:

• Search engine: AI-Free Google (or any name you prefer)
• Shortcut: @google or any keyword
• URL: {google:baseURL}/search?udm=14&q=%s

1. Click Add to save
2. Find your newly created search engine in the list
3. Click the three dots next to it and select Make default

Now all searches from your address bar will bypass AI Overviews automatically.

Method 3: Browser Extension (Easiest)

Install a browser extension designed to hide AI Overviews:

• “Hide Google AI Overviews” – Available for Chrome
• “Bye, Bye Google AI” – Supports 19 languages and allows customization

These extensions automatically hide AI content without requiring any configuration.

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Method 4: Add a Search Modifier

Add -AI to the end of any search query before hitting enter. This modifier tricks Google’s algorithm into suppressing AI Overviews for that specific search.

Method 5: Manual URL Edit

After performing a search:

1. Look at the URL in your browser’s address bar
2. Add &udm=14 to the end of the URL
3. Press Enter to reload

This provides traditional results without AI content. Please keep in mind this method can be a little bit annoying since google’s urls might be super long.

Mobile Solutions for Google

For Android and iOS:

Visit tenbluelinks.org from your mobile browser and follow the setup instructions. This site provides a workaround that makes it easier to avoid AI on mobile devices where browser extensions aren’t supported.

Alternative Search Engines Without AI

If you’re frustrated with AI integration in mainstream search engines, consider these alternatives:

• DuckDuckGo: Privacy-focused with optional AI features that can be completely disabled
• Brave Search: Independent search index without AI clutter
• Ecosia: Uses Google results but strips personalization and AI features and at least they claim to plant trees.

Important Limitations to Know

Google Limitations

• Google officially states that AI Overviews “cannot be turned off” as they’re a core feature
• All workarounds essentially filter or hide AI content rather than truly disabling it
• Google may still train AI models on your searches even with Overviews hidden
• Settings may change as Google updates its search interface

The Future of AI in Search

Keep in mind that disabling visible AI features doesn’t necessarily prevent these companies from using your search data. For better privacy, consider using privacy-focused search engines.

The trajectory is deeply concerning. Companies are making it progressively harder to opt out as AI becomes increasingly “core” to their business model, reducing transparency and user choice at every turn. AI will continue to scrape even more aggressively from independent creators, escalating the theft of original content. As these original sources lose traffic and revenue, fewer people will be able to sustain quality content creation, leading to a decay of information quality across the web. We risk moving from an open internet of diverse sources to a handful of AI gatekeepers who control all information, creating a closed web where a few corporations decide what information people can access and how it’s presented.

The only way to prevent this future is to refuse to use these features and demand better from tech companies.

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