Google appears to be heavily investing in integrating “AI” features into its search results, which seems to come at the expense of the overall web quality and user experience. This shift seems to be the culmination of years of declining search result quality and a search interface increasingly cluttered with ads and other distracting content designed to divert attention away from what users are actually searching for. If you’re longing for the “old” Google experience, there’s a browser extension that might help restore it.
“Bye Bye, Google AI” is a simple extension available for Chrome and other Chromium-based browsers such as Edge, Brave, and Vivaldi. Its primary function is to remove the AI Overview panel that appears at the top of nearly all current Google search results. It accomplishes this through a straightforward CSS modification. Additionally, it can eliminate video results, discussion boxes, the “People Also Ask” section, and sponsored content. Some features work flawlessly, while others may not fully remove all extraneous elements.
Below is a comparison of a Google search before and after applying the extension, viewed in a logged-out mode:
This extension, discovered by GHacks, joins a growing list of tools aimed at removing Google’s intrusive AI overlays. With over 60,000 users and a 4.5-star rating, it appears to be quite popular. However, caution is advised when installing third-party extensions, even those hosted on the Chrome Web Store, as they are subject to updates or changes that might introduce unwanted features or security risks.
Alternatively, users can switch to a different search engine that hasn’t openly embraced such invasive AI features, or even go all-in on AI-enhanced browsing and searching if they choose—to each their own approach.