Over the past two years, Google’s AI Overviews have become part of the furniture of everyday web surfing.
Where links to websites used to be the first thing an internet user saw upon entering a query on Google, more often than not the world’s most popular search engine now returns a summary, generated by its in-house AI system.
Since launching the function in 2024, these AI-generated summaries have become far more common. In fact, a recent study by software firm Ahrefs suggested that 55% of all Google searches now result in one.
The change has been welcomed by many people, who appreciate receiving concise answers without needing to scavenge through multiple websites.
Nevertheless, behind that convenience lies a growing debate over the environmental cost of turning the world's most popular search engine into an AI-powered answer machine.
