How to hide Google’s AI overview from your search results

Log in online at The year 2026 means subjecting yourself to a relentless bombardment of generative AI tools. How about a few AI agents to help you get started? Want to use this chatbot’s sidebar? Would you like every search query to be answered with an AI summary? While there is no on Switch to avoid this variety of AI tools altogether There’s one keyboard trick you can use to avoid Google’s AI overview for a short break.

If you don’t want to see the AI-generated summary of web page links when you use Google Search, you can type “–ai” at the end of your query. It’s an option that was highlighted by WIRED readers within a recent article about scams found in Google’s AI Overviews. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed using this nifty accessory over the past week, and I wish Google would offer an always-on toggle with similar navigation capabilities.

“People find searching more useful with AI Overviews, and they come back to search more as a result,” a Google spokesperson tells WIRED. “We offer a ‘web’ filter to see only links, but people only use it for a small portion of their searches.” The speaker compared AI Overviews to other features embedded in search results, such as information cards, that cannot be removed.

If you want to try this, you can put any combination of letters or numbers attached by a dash, such as “-1” or “-z,” at the end of your Google search, and it works the same way, as PCMag reported. It prevents the AI ​​overview from being fully visible. Google’s en Dash function is designed to remove any topic you attach to it from search results. The removal of AI Overviews seems accidental, and it’s not clear how long this trick will last. After typing in the result, you can also click the “Web” tab — sometimes hidden under “More” — just below the search bar to see site links.

In my tests, the -ai trick seems to be limited to search queries in computer browsers. And when I tried it in the Safari and Chrome apps on iOS, Google’s AI-generated Web Directory still showed up prominently in the results. However, Google offers the classic search button on the right side of these results. After you click this button, the results will reload and show you a mix of website links and short videos. The exception appears to exist on Android — at least on the Google Pixel phone we tested with the “–ai” removed from the AI ​​Overviews feature.

It’s a nice change from the current default when I’m on my laptop, and I’ll probably keep typing “–ai” at the end of every search until it becomes muscle memory, just like I add “Reddit” all the time to my queries. However, I’m nostalgic for the simple Google I grew up with and the sheer simplicity of those top 10 blue links.

If you’re looking to turn search engines into a service without any generative AI, DuckDuckGo and Brave are two solid options worth considering. Both search engines allow users to toggle AI summaries on and off in settings. You don’t need to change browsers to use a different search engine, as Google allows you to switch the default search engine in Chrome’s settings menu.

When Google launched its AI Overviews feature in 2024, it marked a major turning point for the search engine. But the AI ​​Overviews app has been widely ridiculed on social media for incorrect answers, such as an infamous result suggesting baking pizza with glue. However, that hasn’t stopped Google, as the company has continued to focus more on AI tools since the initial release of AI Overviews and has continued to iterate on the user experience.

While Google claims that the accuracy of these results has improved over time, generative AI tools still sometimes include inaccurate information when summarizing the information. So, it’s always worth clicking and double-checking anything you read in the AI ​​overview. I guess all the more reason to cut out the middle bot completely and visit those damn sites directly.