AI is everywhere, from image generators to code-writing tools and even digital assistants baked into your phone. As for web searches, these have undergone a significant change and now very few search engines remain that do not rely on artificial intelligence to show you results. In fact, Google has even removed the option to disable their AI Overviews in search results. And while you can switch to the Web Search option, it is not the same.

Unfortunately, there are many situations where you are looking for information that has been collected by human beings, or you might just want to avoid getting incorrect facts from a hallucinating AI model. Whatever the case, here is how you can search the web without getting AI-generated content in the search results.

Using the web filter

While you cannot turn off AI Overviews in Google search results, you can go back to the traditional non-AI results using the 'Web' filter.

  1. Open your web browser and perform a Google search. If AI Overviews are available, they will appear at the top of the page.
  1. Now, click on the 'Web' option at the top to see the non-AI search results. If you cannot see the 'Web' option, you will find it after clicking on 'More'.
  1. When you switch to the 'Web' filter, you will no longer see AI Overviews in the search results.
  1. When you use the Web filter for a web search, you will see that the URL of the results page will contain &udm=14. This is the part of the URL that ensures you don't get AI Overviews in your search results.
  1. You can just copy the &udm=14 part and paste it at the end of any URL when performing a Google search to view the traditional search results without any AI Overviews.
  1. If editing the URL seems like too much work for you, you can also head to this page and perform your Google search from here. By default, all search results will be AI-free.
  1. You can even make this your default search engine. To do so in Chrome, right-click on the address bar and click on 'Manage search engines and site search'.
  1. Since you won't be able to edit the existing Google search engine, click on the 'Add' button to add to create a new shortcut.
  1. Add a name for the new search engine, such as Web Search and paste https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14 in the URL field. Add the shortcut you want to launch the search engine with and click on the 'Add' button.
  1. Now, type your shortcut, such as ws in this case, and you should see the 'Search Web Search' option on your screen. Type your query to get results without AI Overviews.
  1. You can also make the new page the default by clicking on the three dots to its right and then selecting 'Make default'.
Note: If you want, you can also add &tbs=li:1 to URLs when performing Google searches. This will ensure that Google uses your exact words and phrases when performing the search, instead of including everything related to your search and diluting the results.

Using the Hide Google AI Overviews Chrome extension

The Hide Google AI Overviews extension, as the name indicates, filters out AI-generated content from search results leaving you with only human-written content.

  1. Visit the Chrome Web Store and install the Hide Google AI Overviews extension from there.
  1. The extension will start working by default once it is installed and hiding AI Overviews in your search results. When you perform a Google Search, you will no longer see any AI Overviews in the search results.
  1. To actively use the extension, you can click on the Extensions button and then on the Hide Google AI Overviews extension. You can also pin it by clicking on the 'pin' icon.

With the udm14 extension in Firefox

If you prefer Firefox instead of Chrome, you can use the udm14 extension to get rid of AI Overviews.

  1. Head to the udm14 extension page in Firefox and click on the 'Add to Firefox' button.
  1. Now, try performing a Google search and see whether AI Overviews appear in the results or not.

Setting Google Web as the default search engine in Firefox

Another way by which you can turn off AI Overviews in Firefox is by changing the default search engine.

  1. Open Firefox on your Windows or macOS device and visit the TenBlueLinks.org page.
  1. Right-click on the address bar and select 'Add Google Web'.
  1. Then click on the hamburger menu that appears as three horizontal lines at the top right.
  1. Select 'Settings' in the dropdown menu.
  1. On the Settings page, click on 'Search' on the left.
  1. Then click on the 'Default Search Engine' dropdown and select 'Google Web'.

Turning off AI features in DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo was one of the browsers that did not show AI-generated results until very recently. Fortunately, it still lets you turn them off easily.

  1. Open the DuckDuckGo browser and click on the hamburger menu at the top right.
  1. Then click on 'Settings' in the dropdown menu.
  1. On the Settings page, go to the AI Features tab.
  1. Click on the button next to 'Chat' and turn it off. Then click on the 'Assist' dropdown and select 'Never'. Then you can click on the 'Save and Exit' button.

Turning off AI results in Brave search engine

If you use the Brave search engine for privacy, here is how you can disable AI features.

  1. Head to the Brave homepage and click on the gear icon at the top right.
  1. In the dropdown menu, scroll down to the 'Search Preferences' section and click on the 'Answer with AI' toggle to turn it off.

Disabling AI search results in Chrome on Android

Disabling AI search results in Chrome on Android isn't very straightforward but you can still do so.

  1. Open Chrome on your Android device and head to TenBlueLinks.org.
  2. Open a new tab and perform a Google search. Then tap on the three dots on the top right of the page.
  1. Select 'Settings' in the dropdown menu.
  2. Next, tap on 'Search engine'.
  1. Finally, select 'Google Web' in the Recently Visited section. Now, you will no longer see AI search results in Chrome on Android.

Turning off AI search results in Chrome on iOS

You can use the same method as above to disable AI search results on your iPhone.

  1. Open Chrome on your iPhone and go to the TenBlueLinks.org page.
  2. Then open a new tab and run a Google search.
  3. Tap on the three dots on the bottom right and select Settings in the menu.
  4. On the Settings page, tap on 'Search Engine'.
  5. Then select 'Google Web' and check whether AI results are still showing up.

Disabling AI search results in Firefox on Android

The udm14 extension does not work when you run Firefox on Android, so here is how you can disable AI search results in that case.

  1. Open Firefox on Android and tap on the three dots at the top right.
  2. Then tap on 'Settings' in the dropdown menu.
  1. Next, tap on 'Search'.
  2. Tap on 'Default search engine' on the Search page.
  1. Then tap on '+ Add search engine'.
  2. Enter a name such as Web Search in the 'Name' field and https://google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14 in the URL field.
  1. Then tap on 'Web Search' to make it the default search engine in Firefox. Now you should not see any AI results for your searches.

Things to know

  • Using the 'Web' filter should also work when using browsers like Firefox, though the process of setting it as the default search engine is more complicated in those.
  • You may find other extensions like StopTheMadness and uBlock Origin to block AI search results.
  • Almost every search engine and browser is integrating AI features, but some like Brave and DuckDuckGo let you turn AI features off easily. For other options, you may have to rely on third-party extensions and solutions.
  • In some cases, such as when using the Edge browser, you may have to turn off Copilot as well as make the changes to the search engine using the methods shared for Chrome.