Even If You Hate AI, You Will Use Google AI Search

即使你讨厌人工智能，你最终还是会使用谷歌 AI 搜索

It’s been 17 years since I sat in on the iconic weekly search quality meeting in the Ouagadougou conference room at Google’s Mountain View campus. That Thursday morning, around three dozen engineers, product managers, and executives sat at a table or sprawled on the floor to discuss why certain search queries or categories didn’t yield a perfect result and to suggest fixes. In 2010 those meetings led Google to make 550 changes to its search algorithm, a number that seemed impressive at the time. 距离我参加谷歌山景城总部 Ouagadougou 会议室那场标志性的每周搜索质量会议，已经过去 17 年了。那个周四的早晨，大约三打工程师、产品经理和高管围坐在桌旁，或席地而坐，讨论为什么某些搜索查询或类别没有产生完美的结果，并提出改进建议。在 2010 年，这些会议促使谷歌对其搜索算法进行了 550 次更改，这在当时看来是一个令人印象深刻的数字。

That memory seems like a tintype. At Google’s I/O developer conference this week, a keynote speaker—head of search Liz Reid—officially down-ranked good old-fashioned search to virtual oblivion. This was a continuation of a process that began two years ago, when Google introduced “AI Overview,” its summaries that sit at the top of its search results page and literally lurk over the famous “10 blue links.” By then those links had already been degraded, so that all too often the most relevant ones were buried beneath aggregators, spam, and Google’s own shopping results and maps. 那段记忆现在看起来就像老照片一样久远。在本周的谷歌 I/O 开发者大会上，主题演讲嘉宾——搜索业务负责人 Liz Reid——正式将传统的搜索方式降级到了几乎被遗忘的边缘。这是两年前开始的一个过程的延续，当时谷歌推出了“AI 概览”（AI Overview），这些摘要位于搜索结果页面的顶部，实际上掩盖了著名的“10 个蓝色链接”。到那时，这些链接的质量已经下降，以至于最相关的内容往往被埋没在聚合网站、垃圾信息以及谷歌自家的购物结果和地图之下。

Now, in what Reid described as the most significant change to the search box in the company’s history, users are in direct communication with the latest version of Google’s Gemini. Even the term “query” seems outdated, as human inputs are conversation starters for the AI to collaborate. The process can also incorporate personal information Google knows about you, which can be a lot. The answer to a query could be a bespoke presentation, maybe bolstered by AI agents that forage digital backroads to root out information. The transformation is complete. Onstage, Google said it out loud: “Google Search is AI Search.” 现在，正如 Reid 所描述的那样，这是该公司历史上对搜索框最重大的改变，用户可以直接与最新版本的谷歌 Gemini 进行交流。甚至“查询”（query）这个词似乎也过时了，因为人类的输入变成了 AI 协作的对话起点。这个过程还可以结合谷歌所掌握的关于你的个人信息，而这些信息可能非常多。查询的答案可能是一份定制的演示文稿，或许还有 AI 代理的加持，它们在数字小径中搜寻以挖掘信息。转型已经完成。在舞台上，谷歌大声宣布：“谷歌搜索就是 AI 搜索。”

The search box used to be a portal to the web. The new “intelligent” box is an invitation to order up a Gemini-powered, customized response to a user’s queries, sometimes even creating on the fly a bespoke mini-publication with charts, bullet points, and even animations. Google used to pride itself on interpreting cryptic search terms to divine user intent. Now it encourages searchers to engage with Gemini in a conversational prompt-a-thon. To emphasize the change, Google representatives at the conference wore T-shirts saying “Ask Me Anything,” reflecting the prompt that Gemini offers. Just as with the computerized version, if you asked for directions from these smiling aides, the answer did not result in a click to a website. 搜索框曾经是通往网络的门户。而新的“智能”搜索框则是一个邀请，让用户可以定制由 Gemini 驱动的响应，有时甚至能即时创建包含图表、要点甚至动画的定制化小型出版物。谷歌过去以解读晦涩的搜索词来洞察用户意图而自豪。现在，它鼓励搜索者在对话式的提示马拉松中与 Gemini 互动。为了强调这一变化，大会上的谷歌代表们穿着印有“问我任何事”（Ask Me Anything）的 T 恤，呼应了 Gemini 提供的提示。就像计算机版本一样，如果你向这些面带微笑的助手询问方向，得到的答案并不会引导你点击进入某个网站。

Our digital life these days is perched at an uncomfortable transition point. AI seems to be driving every business model, and giants like Google are weaving AI into all their products and operations. At the same time, there’s rising resistance and even disgust as this powerful and scary technology worms its way into our lives. Just note the boos when commencement speakers mention AI. But as Google sees it, AI search—if you still want to call it that—is an inevitability that even AI haters will embrace. 如今，我们的数字生活正处于一个令人不安的转折点。人工智能似乎正在驱动每一个商业模式，而像谷歌这样的巨头正在将 AI 编织进他们所有的产品和运营中。与此同时，随着这种强大而可怕的技术渗透进我们的生活，抵制甚至厌恶的情绪也在上升。只要留意一下毕业典礼演讲者提到 AI 时台下的嘘声就知道了。但在谷歌看来，AI 搜索——如果你还想这么称呼它的话——是一种必然，即使是 AI 的反对者最终也会拥抱它。

I was among those who recoiled at the introduction of AI Overview in 2024. Now I acknowledge that Overview—and the deeper “AI Mode” that it encourages you to use—is simply better for many things, whether finding out if Saturday Night Live has a new episode, getting an explanation of an agentic harness, or even finding a link. When I searched for my WIRED article where I described the meeting in the Ouagadougou, the blue links were less than useful. But when I explained in plain language what I was looking for, I found it immediately. 我曾是 2024 年 AI 概览推出时感到反感的人之一。现在我承认，概览——以及它鼓励你使用的更深层的“AI 模式”——在很多事情上确实更好用，无论是想知道《周六夜现场》是否有新剧集，获取关于代理框架的解释，还是仅仅寻找一个链接。当我搜索我那篇描述 Ouagadougou 会议的《连线》文章时，蓝色链接几乎没用。但当我用简单的语言解释我在找什么时，我立刻就找到了。

So it’s working. Google claims that more than a billion people a month are searching with AI Mode, a separate tab on Google’s website where links are even more peripheral. AI Mode queries are doubling every quarter. 所以它确实有效。谷歌声称，每月有超过 10 亿人使用 AI 模式进行搜索，这是谷歌网站上的一个独立标签页，其中的链接地位更加边缘化。AI 模式的查询量每季度都在翻倍。

I spoke to Liz Reid after the keynote and asked her directly: How is she defining search? After a startled pause, she invokes Google’s mission: “Can you truly make information not just organized, but really useful and accessible to people?” 主题演讲结束后，我采访了 Liz Reid，并直接问她：她是如何定义搜索的？在短暂的惊讶停顿后，她引用了谷歌的使命：“你是否能真正做到不仅让信息井井有条，而且对人们来说真正有用且易于获取？”

The original Google, of course, assumed that the key to that mission was a thriving and open web. According to Reid’s keynote speech, Google scrapes billions of web pages every day—but now the point is to gather facts and insights for its personalized responses. 最初的谷歌当然认为，实现这一使命的关键在于一个繁荣且开放的网络。根据 Reid 的主题演讲，谷歌每天抓取数十亿个网页——但现在的重点是为个性化响应收集事实和见解。

In the keynote presentation, Google showed how a search query can dispatch an armada of AI agents to create a kind of personalized website on the fly. “We’re talking dynamic layouts, interactive widgets, entire experiences created just for you,” said search VP Robby Stein. To answer a query on black holes, AI agents might whip up an interactive graphic explaining how they work. But information has to come from somewhere. The raw material for that was the hard work of cosmologists, science writers, and visual artists, none of whom are easily credited or surfaced. These types of creators—and the web sites that hold their work—seem to be the losers in this transition. 在主题演讲中，谷歌展示了一个搜索查询如何派遣一支 AI 代理大军，即时创建一个个性化的网站。“我们谈论的是动态布局、交互式小部件，以及专为你打造的完整体验，”搜索副总裁 Robby Stein 说道。为了回答关于黑洞的查询，AI 代理可能会即时生成一个解释其工作原理的交互式图形。但信息必须来自某个地方。其原材料是宇宙学家、科学作家和视觉艺术家的辛勤工作，而他们中的任何人都很难获得署名或被展示。这些类型的创作者——以及承载他们作品的网站——似乎是这次转型中的输家。

Not surprisingly, Reid disputes the theory that AI search is a giant rug-pull for the traditional web. “Some people will skip over the AI response and go to links,” she insists. “Oftentimes people will click on the AI view, and then click on the links within.” I asked for metrics on how many people actually do that; Reid says Google doesn’t share that data. 不出所料，Reid 反驳了“AI 搜索是对传统网络的一次巨大背叛”这一理论。“有些人会跳过 AI 响应直接点击链接，”她坚持说。“通常人们会点击 AI 视图，然后点击其中的链接。”我询问了有多少人真正这样做的指标；Reid 表示谷歌不会分享这些数据。

Some websites will suffer, she says—those bottom feeders that offer generic content that an AI agent can easily duplicate. But she claims that original voices and uniquely reported or researched content will still find an audience. (Really? Tell that to news sites already devastated by AI Overviews.) “We’re also learning in new ways how to think about what web content is relevant,” she says, claiming that Google is at work sending users to those with “firsthand perspectives.” I eagerly await that traffic. 她说，一些网站会受到影响——那些提供 AI 代理可以轻易复制的通用内容的“底层”网站。但她声称，原创声音和独特报道或研究的内容仍然会找到受众。（真的吗？去告诉那些已经被 AI 概览摧毁的新闻网站吧。）“我们也在以新的方式学习如何思考什么样的网络内容是相关的，”她说，并声称谷歌正在努力将用户引导至那些拥有“第一手视角”的内容。我热切地等待着那些流量。

Of course, another problem with getting a single AI-generated answer is that, like other AI models, Gemini can be wrong, or even make s… 当然，获取单一 AI 生成答案的另一个问题是，像其他 AI 模型一样，Gemini 可能会出错，甚至会编造……