We’ve already seen AI creeping into Google Search, whether you liked it or not. AI Overviews started off as a frustrating product that marred the original Search experience with slow responses, inaccuracies, and occasional walls of unhelpful text. But it slowly got better, and for quick queries where you didn’t want to scroll through forums or click on five different links, it actually became useful. That’s what made me hopeful when, at I/O, Google announced a full-fledged AI Mode for everyday use.
Now, I’ve relied on Perplexity for my AI-powered web searches for a while. I stopped “googling” a lot of things long ago. So, if the same kind of AI capabilities could be baked into Google Search, why would I use another app, right?