An overhaul of Google's dominant search engine with an “AI mode” that will provide less prominent links to other websites is expected to trigger chaos for businesses across the web.
The firm will launch the feature in the UK from Tuesday. The AI mode will generate its own answers using information from around the web rather than the traditional model of providing a list of links to websites.
The move has been hailed as a landmark moment for the development of the web.
However, businesses have warned it could lead to additional turbulence for websites that have already seen vast drops in traffic from Google.
It comes as the tech giant moves to an AI-driven answer model for its search results.
Google accounts for more than 90pc of the UK search market queries, meaning large swathes of the web relies on traffic from its results.
The firm believes will revolutionise the traditional online search.
Hema Budaraju, Google’s vice president of product management for search, told the PA news agency it heralds a “major shift” in the way people are using online searches, with questions now becoming longer and more complex.
In a blog announcing the launch, Ms Budaraju said: “AI Mode is a new, intuitive way to address your most complex, multi-part questions and follow-ups, and satisfy your curiosity in a richer way.”
She added: “AI Mode is particularly helpful for exploratory questions and for more complicated tasks like comparing products, planning a trip or understanding complex how-tos.
“In fact, we’ve found that early users of AI Mode are asking questions that are two or three times the length of traditional search queries.”
The tool is powered by Google’s latest AI model, Gemini 2.5, and allows users to ask nuanced questions that would have previously required multiple searches.
Ms Budaraju said it should make it possible for people to “find information that was previously much harder to find”.
“And as with any early-stage AI product, we won’t always get it right, but we are committed to continuous improvement,” Ms Budaraju said.
But the move is expected to spark backlash from company's whose websites use data Google relies on to train its AI systems.
Owen Meredith, the chief executive of industry body the News Media Association, told The Telegraph: “This is yet another example of Google using its dominant position in search to force news publishers to allow their content to be ingested for AI.”
“If publishers want to block Google’s search crawlers to stop their content from being exploited with no transparency, consent – or appropriate reward for original source material – they’ll be demoted from general search listings, causing catastrophic drops in audiences.
"It’s a lose-lose for sources of trusted verified news and information as the dominant tech firms continue to draw yet more web traffic into their walled gardens.”
