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AI overviews cause massive drop in search clicks

arstechnica.com

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Re: AI overviews cause massive drop in search clicks

#851

Post by Velorivox »

jkingsman wrote: post #848
Velorivox wrote: post #677

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t know. I searched for how many chapters a popular manga has on Google and it gave me the wrong answer (by an order of magnitude). I only found out later and it did really piss me off because I made a trek to buy something that never existed. I should’ve known better. I don’t think this is substantively different from cooking temperature, so I’m not trusting that either.

Eh I think it is. Arcane things -- sure, that might be a bit of a stretch. My general rule of thumb is that if I would expect ~10% of people to know the information factually, I can likely trust what an LLM tells me.

Really?

[0] https://i.imgur.com/ly5yk9h.png

Re: AI overviews cause massive drop in search clicks

#852

Post by Rapzid »

Rapzid wrote: post #189
mtkd wrote: post #50

Conversely, it's useful to get an immediate answer sometimes 6 months ago, "what temp is pork safe at?" was a few clicks, long SEO optimised blog post answers and usually all in F not C ... despite Google knowing location ... I used it as an example at the time of 'how hard can this be?' First sentance of Google AI response right now: "Pork is safe to eat when cooked to an internal temperature of 145°F (63°C)"

AI overview also says 165f is the best temperature to cook chicken breast to. Which is and always has been bollocks.

And it's trained at least a few people how to ruin chicken breast :D

Re: AI overviews cause massive drop in search clicks

#853

Post by ncallaway »

AlecSchueler wrote: post #826
ncallaway wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please find a trusted source of information for food safety information. It's genuinely harder than it's ever been to find good information on the internet, but when you're dealing with food safety information, it's really worth taking the extra minute to find a definitive source. https://www.foodsafety.gov/food-safety-charts/safe-minimum-i...

The site you linked to is published by the American government who are actively anti-science, removing access to research and cutting funding for ideological reasons, denying widely accepted climate and medical facts etc. I wouldn't trust that source at all.

I mean, I'm absolutely not going to take the current FDA's guidance on drinking raw milk. You need to evaluate what you're willing to trust for yourself. I printed out the pre-January 2025 FDA vaccine schedule, so I could compare it against any updated recommendations.

All that said, the cooking temperatures aren't something that they've changed, and I would still rely on the US government published number over a AI generated value

Re: AI overviews cause massive drop in search clicks

#854

Post by bokkies »

gorbypark wrote: post #416
andruby wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

me too. Are we all in the EU? (I am)

When you posted this, it would have been 1-3AM in North America (and probably large parts of South America), so yeah, probably mostly Europeans!

And the many keen HN readers down in South Africa! (also CET)

Re: AI overviews cause massive drop in search clicks

#855

Post by happyraul »

jdiff wrote: post #681
zahlman wrote: post #660

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The web page source seems full of Easter eggs and I'm not sure how intentional that is. The generic labels and descriptions of content as "useless" make sense, but then I noticed things like multiple redundant tags and this script comment: src: "https://js.monitor.azure.com/scripts/b/ai.2.min.js", // The SDK URL Source crossOrigin: "anonymous", // When supplied this will add the provided value as the cross origin att…

Firefox for Android can handle uBlock Origin, probably NoScript as well. It's the one thing keeping me on Android at this point.

Are you saying on iOS there is no way to browse the Internet without an ad blocker? Maybe I should get an iPhone to stop spending time on my phone...

Re: AI overviews cause massive drop in search clicks

#856

Post by omnicognate »

AlecSchueler wrote: post #847
omnicognate wrote: post #830

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I said, it routinely gives incorrect data so it can't be relied on for something that matters, like a safe cooking temperature. Note that we're talking about the Google AI Summary here, not AI in general. Whatever magical capabilities you think your favoured model has or will soon have, the Google AI Summary is currently utter garbage and routinely spouts nonsense. (Don't try and persuade me otherwise. I have to u…

I think the point is that the convenience outweighs the accuracy for now! I just look it up with AI then overcook it to be safe.

What was the point in looking it up then?

You know, at "I'd rather overcook my food than click the top result on my search", I think I'm done.

Re: AI overviews cause massive drop in search clicks

#857

Post by Barbing »

jonplackett wrote: post #253
littlecranky67 wrote: post #233

Here is the experience when clicking a link on mobile: * Page loads, immediately when I start scrolling and reading a popup trying to get tracking consent * If I am lucky, there is a "necessary only". When unlucky I need to click "manage options" and first see how to reject all tracking * There is a sticky banner on top/bottom taking 20-30% of my screen upselling me a subscription or asking me to install their app. U…

I made this game inspired by all the dark patterns from darkpatterns.org - every pop up is based on a real dark pattern https://www.termsandconditions.game/

working now - ahaha nice!

Re: AI overviews cause massive drop in search clicks

#858

Post by jdiff »

happyraul wrote: post #855
jdiff wrote: post #681

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firefox for Android can handle uBlock Origin, probably NoScript as well. It's the one thing keeping me on Android at this point.

Are you saying on iOS there is no way to browse the Internet without an ad blocker? Maybe I should get an iPhone to stop spending time on my phone...

Can't answer that authoritatively since I don't know if there's something iOS-specific, but Firefox is the only browser on Android that lets you have uBlock Origin. And I know that Firefox on iOS doesn't.

Re: AI overviews cause massive drop in search clicks

#859

Post by j45 »

thewebguyd wrote: post #18
j45 wrote: post #12

This means searches are still happening, just being routed elsewhere? I noticed Google's new AI summary let's me click on a link in the summary and the links are posted to the right. Those clicks are available, might not be discovered yet, curious though if those show up anywhere as data. Google being able to create summaries off actual web search results will be an interesting take compared to other models trying to…

> Google being able to create summaries off actual web search results will be an interesting take compared to other models trying to get the same done without similar search results at their disposal. And may get them in some anti-trust trouble once publishers start fighting back, similar to AMP, or their thing with Genius and song lyrics. Turns out site owners don't like when Google takes their content and displays…

Definitely a possibility.

Re: AI overviews cause massive drop in search clicks

#860

Post by washadjeffmad »

washadjeffmad wrote: post #30

The overviews are also wrong and difficult to get fixed. Google AI has been listing incorrect internal extensions causing departments to field calls for people trying to reach unrelated divisions and services, listing times and dates of events that don't exist at our addresses that people are showing up to, and generally misdirecting and misguiding people who really need correct information from a truth source like o…

Self replying for context so I don't read this a few years and question whether I'd missed a sign of early-onset dementia.

You're fine, you just lost a few verbal IQ points after fasting for 24 hours and doing blood work.

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