This absurdly simple trick turns off AI in your Google Search results

Are you tired of seeing AI overviews on your Google searches? There’s a simple way to prevent them from appearing again — at least for now.

There’s no official way to turn off the summaries, but there are a few workarounds. While most involve tinkering with your browser’s settings, one involves just adding a few characters to your query.

Also: AI just gave us the Star Trek farewell we always wanted – watch it here

When searching on Google, you can simply add “-AI” to the end of your search query to turn off the AI-powered search overview box. At the top of your search results, you’ll see a snippet from a single relevant website result instead of Google’s best guess at summarizing several sites. 

Especially after they offered suggestions like making pizza with glue, Google’s AI search results have struggled to find favor with users. 

Also: The end of ChromeOS is a new dawn for cheap Android laptops

While Google’s AI summaries are sometimes useful, I rarely trust them for anything important or precise. When I found out about this trick, for example, I was actually in the middle of prepping dinner. I went back to my last Google search: “How many tablespoons is a clove of garlic?” The still-there AI summary told me that a clove of garlic was anywhere from one-third of a teaspoon to 1.5 teaspoons — not exactly useful information. But when I added “-AI” to my search, I saw a more reliable answer of one-half teaspoon (and looking at multiple sites, that seems to be the most common consensus).

At least until Google offers an official option to turn off the feature, this seems to be the easiest way to ensure you don’t see them again. 

If you still want to use AI to improve your search results, take a look at our list of the top AI search engines. If you’re interested in an alternative to Google entirely, consider the privacy-focused DuckDuckGo.