Google has been synonymous with search for more than 25 years, and so how it reinvents search matters to the billions of people who rely on its powerful knowledge graph. In recent years, we’ve seen the steady encroachment of AI Previews and AI Mode on our search experience. Now, while the transition to putting AI into your search results seems complete, I worry that it could change Google Search in ways that no one wants or can reverse. However, Google tells me this is not the case.
First, Google has publicly stated that in this next chapter of search, the change it unveiled during its Google I/O 2026 keynote is, according to Liz Reid, head of Google Search, “truly the biggest upgrade to our iconic search field since its debut more than 25 years ago.”
Google vs. OpenAI
If Google’s long-term effort was to make AI, particularly various Gemini models, inescapable in search, I think the job is almost done. I don’t blame Google for this. After all, OpenAI’s ChatGPT has seen a surge in recent years, with some people reporting they “chatted” instead of “Googled it.”
Verb status aside, ChatGPT, while on the rise, somehow remains less than 25% of the search market, while Google hovers around 80%. But ChatGPT’s trajectory is unmistakable in Google’s eyes. It has no choice but to deeply infuse traditional research with AI.
However, how much is AI too much?
There remains a large contingent who want nothing to do with Google AI or ChatGPT. I wondered if they could opt out, and during a Google I/O 2026 pre-brief, I asked Google. Later, I received an email response from a Google representative.
“The AI dimension of the search box gives you quick access to AI tools and an updated query suggestion system that helps you formulate long questions, for which an AI answer is likely most useful. Using this new search box doesn’t mean you’ll only get AI answers – you’ll still get a range of results in search.”
Using this new search box doesn’t mean you’ll only get AI answers.
What’s notable is that there’s no “No, I’d rather not” option here. You cannot unsubscribe from the Smart Search area. But that doesn’t mean your search results won’t still include some of the classic links and summary results you’ve known and loved since 1998. As a Google spokesperson promised: “No matter what you ask, you’ll continue to get a range of search results, just like you do today.” »
However, these results will likely be lower than AI insights that are already above these typical results. On the contrary, the overviews can be even richer and more precise thanks to the intelligent query tips you received in the search box. Scrolling down below them might be useless.
It doesn’t take much imagination to imagine a future in which AI Previews are your Google search results, and there’s nothing below because it’s not as useful, or at least it doesn’t “speak” to you in the same way that Previews does. They seem to understand you because they are designed to answer your intent in a way that traditional search results never could.
For some, this is progress. In my opinion? The jury is still not elected.
And you? Share your thoughts on Google’s new smart search box in the comments below.
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