How to Block Google's Annoying AI Answers With This Cool Browser Plugin

Are you sick of Google's AI Overviews?

Block Party

Do you find Google's new AI Overviews to be obtrusive, bad for the struggling media industry, or even wildly inaccurate?

Well, we have good news. There are several browser extensions that can block AI Overviews, which are basically AI-generated summaries drawn from Internet search results — and hence are plagued with the same hallucinations that other AI platforms have experienced.

Take a plugin by Avram Piltch, editor-in-chief of Tom's Hardware, that can not only block AI Overviews but also gives you the option to block other search results like shopping and sponsored links.

Piltch announced the Chrome extension in a post on the social media platform X-formerly-Twitter over the weekend, and followed up with an article on Tom's.

"I haven't tested it much," he posted. "Wanna try it?"

Turn It Off

There's clearly interest among annoyed internet users. Another already-available plugin does pretty much the same thing. Both it and Piltch's plugin are getting rave reviews.

"Take my money, please!" the person wrote as a review for Piltch's option. "I literally replaced Google as my default search with Duck, Duck, Go but I kinda hate it. I do not know what is wrong with Google and forcing users to have it the way Google wants it. It is just a poor business model and shows complete disregard for users. Insulting really."

There are many critiques of the feature: that it often provides incorrect info, that it harms the news business by providing readers with summaries of articles without visiting, or that it's being forced on users without any way to opt out.

On that last point, though, it's clear that if tech companies won't provide a way to avoid AI features, users will find a way on their own.

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