It turns out Google isn’t planning on making AI Mode the default for Google search anytime soon, but it came with news of more AI slop coming. This all came from rumors that started swirling after a comment from one of the company’s own product leads, who works with Google AI.
The reporting started when Logan Kilpatrick, the lead product manager for Google AI Studio, responded to a user’s suggestion that AI Mode should be the default for search. The user posted on Twitter/X, saying, “It must be the default. I know it’s scary, but one more click means infinity.” Kilpatrick’s response was simple and seemingly straightforward “soon,” which sounds good for those who love AI, but not for everyone else.
Obviously, anyone who reads this would interpret it as Google planning to kill its search engine in favor of Google AI search. I don’t believe that everyone is clicking on the AI tab on purpose, since Google put it on the spot where regular search would go, which means a lot of misclicks. The few times I intentionally clicked that AI part have only led to me not being listened to by the AI or getting unhelpful answers, so it’s hard to imagine it’s ready to be an alternative to search.
The idea of AI taking over the internet has been a hot topic for a while now, and when another user highlighted this, it was clear that people were taking it as a definitive statement from the company. The rumor was so widespread that Robby Stein, Google’s VP of Search, had to step in to calm everyone down. He posted his own message on X, saying he “wouldn’t read too much into this. We’re focusing on making it easy to access AI Mode for those who want it”. Kilpatrick even added a “+1” to Stein’s post, which is a common way to show you agree with someone.
A day after the clarification from the search VP, Kilpatrick also posted an official clarification on X, stating that he “wasn’t saying AI Mode is replacing main Search”. He explained that he was excited to see more AI Mode functionality in AI Overviews, which users already see in the main search box. Essentially, the “soon” was more about forcing more AI features to the forefront.
Forcing AI on users is what Google has been doing for the last couple of years anyway, so it shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone that they’re continuing that trend. It’s just a poor choice of wording from the product lead, since he was too vague with his original comment.
I see AI as a nuisance in my search, mostly because of how often it is wrong. The idea of an unreliable AI giving me wrong information, as it keeps doing whenever I try it, makes me want to go to any other search engine. If Google really wanted to make sure you could opt out of the AI search, the company would make an easy-to-find toggle that stayed off until you turned it back on, instead of a complicated workaround.
For now, this is more like a warning that more AI slop is coming to the search.
Source: Robby Stein/X, Logan Kilpatrick/X