Google has been trying to reinvent its search engine by using AI to show full answers to most questions, a feature the company calls “AI Summaries.” However, if this experience isn’t for you, there are a number of workarounds you can use in Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge to get back to a more traditional results page experience.
Google search is no longer an algorithm that returns relevant results based on a few keywords you type into a search box. Instead, it’s a system that relies on AI to reason about search intent to provide the most relevant answer. While the company says the new system offers a better experience, inaccurate results continue to increase, especially in the latest ‘AI Overview’ feature that aims to show complete answers.
While the company doesn’t offer an option to disable AI summaries, it is still possible to hide AI results using an extension or by configuring the web browser.
In this guide, I’ll outline the steps to prevent Google AI from showing in search results in browsers like Chrome and Edge.
How to block AI summaries on Google Search
On Windows 11 (or 10), whether you use Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome, you have more than one way to prevent Google from displaying AI-generated results via an extension or by configuring a custom search engine in the browser.
Bye, Bye Install Google AI extension in the browser
The “Bye Bye, Google AI: Turn off Google AI Overviews, Discussions and Ads” is an extension developed by Avram Piltch of our sister site Tom’s Hardware that uses CSS to hide the HTML blocks that display the AI results and other features, such as discussions, forums and advertisements.
Microsoft Edge
Follow these steps to hide results from AI on Google with a Microsoft Edge extension:
- Open Goodbye, Google AI extension page.
- Click on the Get an extension knob.
- Click on the Add extension knob.
- Click on the Extension knob.
- Click on the More actions (three dots) menu for “Hello, Google AI” and click Expansion options.
- Check the “Hide AI overviews” choice.
- (Optional) Check the various features you want to remove from Google results, such as ‘Discussions and forums’, ‘Sponsored links’, ‘People also ask’ and more.
- Click on the To rescue knob.
After you complete the steps, the next time you open Microsoft Edge and start a Google search, you will no longer see AI summaries in the results.
Google Chrome
Follow these steps to hide results from AI on Google using an extension on Microsoft Edge:
- Open Goodbye, Google AI extension page.
- Click on the Add to Chrome knob.
- Click on the Add extension knob.
- Click on the Extension knob.
- Click on the More actions (three dots) menu for “Hello, Google AI” and click Options.
- Check the “Hide AI overviews” choice.
- (Optional) Check the various features you want to remove from Google results, such as ‘Discussions and forums’, ‘Sponsored links’, ‘People also ask’ and more.
- Click on the To rescue knob.
After you complete the steps, the next time you open Google Chrome and start a Google search, you will no longer see AI overviews in the results.
Create a custom search engine for your browser
Alternatively, you can create a custom search engine that allows you to use Google Search while hiding the AI results.
Microsoft Edge
Follow these steps to create a custom search engine to hide AI results on Google from Microsoft Edge:
- Open Microsoft Edge.
- Open the “Manage search engine” page at this location: edge://settings/searchengines
- Click on the Add knob.
- Enter the name of the custom search engine in the ‘Name’ setting.
- Confirm the Google domain name in the ‘Shortcut’ setting: https://google.com
- Confirm the web filter setting in the “URL” setting: {google:baseURL}/search?udm=14&q=%s
- Click on the Add knob.
- Choose the “Make a Standard” option in the new custom search engine menu.
Google Chrome
Follow these steps to create a custom search engine to hide AI results on Google from Google Chrome:
- Open Google Chrome.
- Open the “Manage search engines and site searches” page at this location: chrome://settings/searchengines
- Click on the Add knob.
- Confirm a name for the custom search engine.
- Confirm the Google domain name in the ‘Shortcut’ setting: https://google.com
- Confirm the web filter setting in the “URL” setting: {google:baseURL}/search?udm=14&q=%s
- Click on the Add knob.
- Choose the “Make a Standard” option in the new custom search engine menu.
Once you complete the steps, you can search from the address bar or in a new tab using the ‘Web’ filter, which hides AI overviews from the results.
It’s important to note that Google also uses an AI system to classify and display blue links next to AI summaries.
Personally, I use both Bing and Google. In the past, when I used Bing, I also used Google to confirm the answer. Since AI took over Google search, I find myself searching Google and confirming with Bing.
More resources
For more helpful articles, coverage, and answers to common questions about Windows 10 and Windows 11, visit the following resources: