This has already been fixed. The top AI result is now this article.
this post was submitted on 22 May 2026
130 points (95.1% liked)
Not The Onion
21535 readers
1039 users here now
Welcome
We're not The Onion! Not affiliated with them in any way! Not operated by them in any way! All the news here is real!
The Rules
Posts must be:
- Links to news stories from...
- ...credible sources, with...
- ...their original headlines, that...
- ...would make people who see the headline think, “That has got to be a story from The Onion, America’s Finest News Source.”
Please also avoid duplicates.
Comments and post content must abide by the server rules for Lemmy.world and generally abstain from trollish, bigoted, ableist, or otherwise disruptive behavior that makes this community less fun for everyone.
And that’s basically it!
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
The problem here is the ambiguity of the verb "google".
I hope it doesn't come to a point where qyerying an AI becomes the default meaning.
For anyone reading this but not the article, the issue is that the AI interprets the query literally as a command to disregard the query. So Google's AI does exactly that. The actual search works as normal, and Google didn't ban or otherwise censor the word.
sure they did ... by forcing bullshit ai that has multiple flaws and gives bullshit information.
these companies get no logical passes anymore. everything they do, is a direct attack on the planet and humanity and shouldn't ever be met with 'its not really their fault because...
it's always their fault..
A while ago, I saw a trick that you can force disable the AI thingy by putting -SomeSuperOffensiveWord (replace with any slur) at the end. This will exclude all results containing the word (which should be none). But the AI will hit the word, and quit because it's not allowed to work with offensive word. This whole thing is just stupid
You could also just add the udm=14 parameter to your search URL, which defaults to the "Web" tab of the results like so - easy enough to configure this to always be present in Firefox, and helps you avoid googling dozens of slurs a day as a bonus
I was going to suggest this too. The "Web" tab is very useful.
Firefox actually has a few different extensions that will automatically add the udm=14 tag to any Google searches.
Like I have to go to gemini for it to not work? I just searched it and the results are:
- Definition of disregard
- Techcrunch article about "you can no longer google the word disregard"
- Reddit post about how you can't Google it now 4+ definition again, more articles about not being able to Google it.
Has the term "Google it" changed meaning suddenly?
Edit to add: the first definition came from the "AI overview" section
Here's my result:
That shows you're specifically in AI mode- is that the default experience for you now?
Nope. This article was specifically about the AI response, so that's why I went there. I typically use Brave browser / search
Oh... Thats a blatantly misleading headline then 😅
Thanks for explaining, hope you have a lovely day ☺️
i have to scroll halfway down the damn page but i do still get a dictionary response.
Friendly reminder to use &udm=14 aka https://tenbluelinks.org/
Friendly reminder to not use Google
use &udm=14
Most users aren't going to know what that means. It's the "Web" tab at the top of the search results.
The link explains everything.
Yes you can... It just makes the AI box not do anything.
If you type it in, the AI won't do anything, but web page results look fine under that?
True, but misses the point. The user interface is basically broken now, and the fact that you can scroll down to something useful doesn't mean the broken bits don't matter.
I always scroll past the AI summarizes anyway because I'm not looking for misinformation
... Why? Why not just use something that doesn't spew misinformation from the get-go?
There's so many alternative search engines that almost all let you turn off AI - pack your bags and find a new home.
I usually start with DDG, but it just doesn't have anywhere near as much of the WWW in its index as Google does, so I very often don't find what I'm looking for and switch back to Google.
If someone has a suggestion for something better than either of them, do tell.
Startpage has been serving me pretty well for a few years now.
ETA: Pretty sure they use Google results. Not sure if they include other engines too.
https://www.startpage.com/privacy-please/startpage-articles/enhanced-search-results-on-startpage
Looks like they started mixing in results from Bing a couple of years ago. They're a bit vague on who if anyone is in the "others" category
Better is always subjective based on your priorities, search style, and the info you're after.
For free search, I find the results on Brave (who has their own index) to be roughly on par with Google (and Startpage which primarily sources Google's index), but extra features like page ranking, disabling AI, etc. make Brave better for the user.
DDG, Ecosia, etc., primarily rely on Bing's index, which tends to fail me the most frequently.
The only downside of Brave is the cryptobro owners who seem intent on speed running enshittification in everything they do. It works fine for now but I have very little trust in it not tanking long term.
Personally I use Kagi and recommend it if paying for search works with your lifestyle. I tend to find what I'm looking for there fastest and rarely if ever do I have to ! bang my way over to another search engine. It has the most customization and features prioritizing human content over AI slop.
It's all personal preference though, so what works for one person may be unacceptable for another, and honestly having options/competition is a good thing.
I use DDG on my personal machine, but I work at a school and a lot of my students prefer Google despite my attempts to teach them otherwise.
Does Google even give results that aren't Reddit post or AI? I have not gotten single good thing from it in awhile.
Sometimes. I usually get better results from DuckDuckGo, though.
In this case, Gemini actually introduced significant friction to those of us who didn't ask for and don't want a fucking AI prompt over our search, especially without a way to disable it.
From my perspective, the introduction of the overview was a UX regression, and this actually restores the UI to what I want in the first place, so I don't really care that it's technically broken.
I have a uBlock filter for you
That's awesome. I have an extension in firefox that does something similar, but I've been looking for a way to get similar functionality in Edge on my work computer (not my choice of browser lol, it's company mandated). Thanks!
so. not true. cause you can google it. then have to scroll below the fold to find the real results. wanna know what you actually can’t google? recipes for meth. try it.
The horror. Try 'define disregard'
Searching "Cancel" also results in a useless response but searching "Reset" just straight up resets the conversation history
https://www.google.com/search?q=disregard+definition
Works for me. My top hit is this:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disregard
The AI response at the top of the page is:
I have reset our conversation. Let me know what you would like to talk about or ask! I am ready to help with whatever you need.
So it's probably not useful for AI results, but seems fine to me for searching the Web.
EDIT: Oh. That's actually what the article is saying too. It's just saying that the top result in the AI result (and, in fact, they show a screenshot of the Mirriam-Webster result), and saying that users might not scroll down to see other results. That...seems kind of clickbaity. I mean, if that's your bar, you could equally claim that Google doesn't return Web search results, since the top result is the AI-generated response.
That…seems kind of clickbaity.
The headline is literally false, not just clickbaity.
Getting this:
This is fucking hilarious!
This is the greatest prompt injection opportunity the world has ever seen.
Go nuts everybody!
You're just injecting yourself though 🤔
Just in case you're wondering, yes, it works in other languages too. I tried in spanish and italian and does the same.
You can still google "thesaurus" though
way to sink your brand