A feature called AI Overviews has been a profound change, and the browsing habits of billions of people are shifting

Google has put artificial intelligence at the front and center of its search bar. The most-visited site on the internet still shows the same list of links to users, but they have to scroll past a summarized response from an AI chatbot, a feature Google calls AI Overviews. The change to what was once the gateway to the rest of the internet has been profound, and the browsing habits of billions of people are shifting.

…

  • Em Adespoton@lemmy.caEnglish
    92·
    2 days ago

    No?

    I’m younger than those people and I still remember using Open Directory, HotBot, MetaSearch, AltaVista and the rest.

    For that matter, I remember the Internet before the World Wide Web when we used WAIS, Archie, Veronica and Jughead to search FTP and Gopher sites.

    “Old Google” to me ended around the time they merged with Double Click. It’s got significantly worse three times since then.

    • DummyWOW@lemmy.zipEnglish
      141·
      2 days ago

      How old were you in 1994 that you think you’re younger than this demographic and still had meaningfully used the gopher protocol?

    • TheFogan@programming.devEnglish
      2·
      2 days ago

      I’m about 40, and yeah I can say that I used old google. But I would actually defer to someone 10-20 years older than myself, because I was pretty young during most of that time, and I have to say when I rewatch a lot of things from that era, I realize that 10-18 year old me, has some pretty rose colored glasses.