this post was submitted on 22 May 2026
122 points (94.9% liked)

Not The Onion

21535 readers
960 users here now

Welcome

We're not The Onion! Not affiliated with them in any way! Not operated by them in any way! All the news here is real!

The Rules

Posts must be:

  1. Links to news stories from...
  2. ...credible sources, with...
  3. ...their original headlines, that...
  4. ...would make people who see the headline think, “That has got to be a story from The Onion, America’s Finest News Source.”

Please also avoid duplicates.

Comments and post content must abide by the server rules for Lemmy.world and generally abstain from trollish, bigoted, ableist, or otherwise disruptive behavior that makes this community less fun for everyone.

And that’s basically it!

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
all 45 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] jaaake@lemmy.world 3 points 30 minutes ago

This has already been fixed. The top AI result is now this article.

[–] A_norny_mousse@piefed.zip 5 points 1 hour ago

The problem here is the ambiguity of the verb "google".

I hope it doesn't come to a point where qyerying an AI becomes the default meaning.

[–] Pamasich@kbin.earth 89 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

For anyone reading this but not the article, the issue is that the AI interprets the query literally as a command to disregard the query. So Google's AI does exactly that. The actual search works as normal, and Google didn't ban or otherwise censor the word.

[–] Bluegrass_Addict@lemmy.ca 50 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

sure they did ... by forcing bullshit ai that has multiple flaws and gives bullshit information.

these companies get no logical passes anymore. everything they do, is a direct attack on the planet and humanity and shouldn't ever be met with 'its not really their fault because...

it's always their fault..

[–] Luis_StieglLorbeer@lemmy.dorfrollenspiel.de 18 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (1 children)

A while ago, I saw a trick that you can force disable the AI thingy by putting -SomeSuperOffensiveWord (replace with any slur) at the end. This will exclude all results containing the word (which should be none). But the AI will hit the word, and quit because it's not allowed to work with offensive word. This whole thing is just stupid

[–] zkfcfbzr@lemmy.world 9 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (2 children)

You could also just add the udm=14 parameter to your search URL, which defaults to the "Web" tab of the results like so - easy enough to configure this to always be present in Firefox, and helps you avoid googling dozens of slurs a day as a bonus

https://www.google.com/search?udm=14&q=hello+world

[–] dan@upvote.au 3 points 1 hour ago

I was going to suggest this too. The "Web" tab is very useful.

[–] ReptilianCleric@lemmy.zip 7 points 2 hours ago

Firefox actually has a few different extensions that will automatically add the udm=14 tag to any Google searches.

[–] ITGuyLevi@programming.dev 6 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (2 children)

Like I have to go to gemini for it to not work? I just searched it and the results are:

  1. Definition of disregard
  2. Techcrunch article about "you can no longer google the word disregard"
  3. Reddit post about how you can't Google it now 4+ definition again, more articles about not being able to Google it.

Has the term "Google it" changed meaning suddenly?

Edit to add: the first definition came from the "AI overview" section

[–] Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world 4 points 2 hours ago (2 children)
[–] Cris_Citrus@piefed.zip 8 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (1 children)

That shows you're specifically in AI mode- is that the default experience for you now?

[–] Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world 3 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Nope. This article was specifically about the AI response, so that's why I went there. I typically use Brave browser / search

[–] Cris_Citrus@piefed.zip 2 points 30 minutes ago

Oh... Thats a blatantly misleading headline then 😅

Thanks for explaining, hope you have a lovely day ☺️

[–] kieron115@startrek.website 1 points 1 hour ago

i have to scroll halfway down the damn page but i do still get a dictionary response.

[–] JTskulk@lemmy.world 8 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (2 children)
[–] degenerate_neutron_matter@fedia.io 2 points 34 minutes ago

Friendly reminder to not use Google

[–] dan@upvote.au 3 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

use &udm=14

Most users aren't going to know what that means. It's the "Web" tab at the top of the search results.

[–] JTskulk@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago

The link explains everything.

[–] ParlimentOfDoom@piefed.zip 28 points 3 hours ago

Yes you can... It just makes the AI box not do anything.

[–] flandish@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

so. not true. cause you can google it. then have to scroll below the fold to find the real results. wanna know what you actually can’t google? recipes for meth. try it.

[–] CanIFishHere@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 hour ago

The horror. Try 'define disregard'

[–] flameleaf@lemmy.world 19 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

If you type it in, the AI won't do anything, but web page results look fine under that?

[–] kescusay@lemmy.world 15 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

True, but misses the point. The user interface is basically broken now, and the fact that you can scroll down to something useful doesn't mean the broken bits don't matter.

[–] flameleaf@lemmy.world 16 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

I always scroll past the AI summarizes anyway because I'm not looking for misinformation

[–] Ludicrous0251@piefed.zip 6 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

... Why? Why not just use something that doesn't spew misinformation from the get-go?

There's so many alternative search engines that almost all let you turn off AI - pack your bags and find a new home.

[–] schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 hour ago (2 children)

I usually start with DDG, but it just doesn't have anywhere near as much of the WWW in its index as Google does, so I very often don't find what I'm looking for and switch back to Google.

If someone has a suggestion for something better than either of them, do tell.

[–] reseller_pledge609@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Startpage has been serving me pretty well for a few years now.

ETA: Pretty sure they use Google results. Not sure if they include other engines too.

[–] Ludicrous0251@piefed.zip 0 points 48 minutes ago* (last edited 47 minutes ago)

Better is always subjective based on your priorities, search style, and the info you're after.

For free search, I find the results on Brave (who has their own index) to be roughly on par with Google (and Startpage which primarily sources Google's index), but extra features like page ranking, disabling AI, etc. make Brave better for the user.

DDG, Ecosia, etc., primarily rely on Bing's index, which tends to fail me the most frequently.

The only downside of Brave is the cryptobro owners who seem intent on speed running enshittification in everything they do. It works fine for now but I have very little trust in it not tanking long term.

Personally I use Kagi and recommend it if paying for search works with your lifestyle. I tend to find what I'm looking for there fastest and rarely if ever do I have to ! bang my way over to another search engine. It has the most customization and features prioritizing human content over AI slop.

It's all personal preference though, so what works for one person may be unacceptable for another, and honestly having options/competition is a good thing.

[–] flameleaf@lemmy.world 3 points 2 hours ago

I use DDG on my personal machine, but I work at a school and a lot of my students prefer Google despite my attempts to teach them otherwise.

[–] Fredselfish@lemmy.world 6 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (1 children)

Does Google even give results that aren't Reddit post or AI? I have not gotten single good thing from it in awhile.

[–] flameleaf@lemmy.world 7 points 3 hours ago

Sometimes. I usually get better results from DuckDuckGo, though.

[–] finalarbiter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

In this case, Gemini actually introduced significant friction to those of us who didn't ask for and don't want a fucking AI prompt over our search, especially without a way to disable it.

From my perspective, the introduction of the overview was a UX regression, and this actually restores the UI to what I want in the first place, so I don't really care that it's technically broken.

[–] flameleaf@lemmy.world 3 points 3 hours ago (1 children)
[–] finalarbiter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 3 hours ago

That's awesome. I have an extension in firefox that does something similar, but I've been looking for a way to get similar functionality in Edge on my work computer (not my choice of browser lol, it's company mandated). Thanks!

[–] Corinthiana@lemmy.ca 10 points 3 hours ago

Searching "Cancel" also results in a useless response but searching "Reset" just straight up resets the conversation history

[–] tal@lemmy.today 7 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (2 children)

https://www.google.com/search?q=disregard+definition

Works for me. My top hit is this:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disregard

The AI response at the top of the page is:

I have reset our conversation. Let me know what you would like to talk about or ask! I am ready to help with whatever you need.

So it's probably not useful for AI results, but seems fine to me for searching the Web.

EDIT: Oh. That's actually what the article is saying too. It's just saying that the top result in the AI result (and, in fact, they show a screenshot of the Mirriam-Webster result), and saying that users might not scroll down to see other results. That...seems kind of clickbaity. I mean, if that's your bar, you could equally claim that Google doesn't return Web search results, since the top result is the AI-generated response.

[–] schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 1 hour ago

That…seems kind of clickbaity.

The headline is literally false, not just clickbaity.

[–] Hellstormy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 3 hours ago (1 children)
[–] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 8 points 3 hours ago

This is fucking hilarious!

[–] eestileib@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

This is the greatest prompt injection opportunity the world has ever seen.

Go nuts everybody!

[–] dan@upvote.au 3 points 1 hour ago

You're just injecting yourself though 🤔

Just in case you're wondering, yes, it works in other languages too. I tried in spanish and italian and does the same.

[–] mr_account@lemmy.world 4 points 3 hours ago

You can still google "thesaurus" though

[–] AskewLord@piefed.social 4 points 3 hours ago

way to sink your brand