In an age where Artificial Intelligence is seemingly everywhere, sometimes it feels like AI has infiltrated nearly every aspect of our digital lives, especially our search results. While AI offers many benefits, an increasing number of users are seeking ways to regain control and filter out AI-generated content from their daily searches.
The good news? You absolutely can enjoy major search engines like Google without constantly encountering AI Overviews or similar AI-infused results. We’ve discovered a straightforward method to automatically exclude AI from your searches, and it works across most popular web browsers, giving you back a cleaner, more traditional search experience.
Why Consider an AI-Free Search Experience?
Beyond personal preference, there are compelling reasons to deliberately exclude AI from your search results. For starters, the computational demands of AI models are staggering, leading to a significant drain on our electrical grids. AI data centers also consume enormous amounts of water for cooling, contributing to environmental concerns with every AI-powered query.
Another critical reason to opt out of AI in search is accuracy. Despite their impressive capabilities, AI models are known to “hallucinate” or provide incorrect information, sometimes with a confident tone that can be misleading. Many users, including ourselves, have found AI-generated answers to be inaccurate when fact-checked, especially on niche or complex topics.
By choosing an AI-free search, you’re not only potentially reducing your digital footprint but also ensuring you rely on more traditional, source-verified results. It’s about empowering yourself with choice and maintaining a critical eye on the information you consume.
Your Gateway to AI-Free Searching: Custom Search Engines
The secret to keeping AI out of your search results lies in leveraging your browser’s ability to add custom search engines. This method allows you to define a specific URL for your search queries, which in turn, instructs Google to display only traditional web results, bypassing AI Overviews.
The specific URL we’ll use includes a special parameter: https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14. The &udm=14 portion of this URL is the magic ingredient that tells Google to filter out AI results, providing you with a cleaner, classic search experience. Let’s walk through how to set this up in your preferred browser.
Setting Up Your AI-Excluding Search Engine
For Firefox Users
Firefox makes adding custom search engines quite intuitive. Since you can’t directly edit the default Google search engine, we’ll create a new one. Open Firefox and navigate to Settings, then click on Search in the left-hand menu.
Scroll down to the “Search Shortcuts” section and click the Add button. In the pop-up window, you’ll need to enter three pieces of information to configure your new AI-free search engine:
- Name: AI-Free Google
- Keyword: aig (or any short, memorable shortcut you prefer)
- URL:
https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14
Once these details are entered, click Add Engine. Now, whenever you want to perform an AI-free search, simply type aig (or your chosen keyword) into your address bar, press Tab, type your search query, and hit Enter. You’ll see Google’s traditional web results, free from AI interruptions.
For Chrome, Edge, and Opera Users
If you’re using Chrome, Edge, or Opera, the process is very similar, given their shared Chromium foundation. Open your browser and go to Settings. In Chrome, select “Search engine” from the left sidebar. In Edge or Opera, look for a similar “Search engine” or “Manage search engines” option.
Within the “Search engine” section, locate and click the Add button next to “Other search engines.” A pop-up will appear where you’ll input the following details:
- Search engine: AI-Free Google
- Shortcut: aig (again, choose a simple, unique keyword)
- URL with %s in place of query:
https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14
After clicking Add, your new AI-free search engine is ready. To use it, just type your chosen shortcut (e.g., aig) into the address bar, press Tab, enter your search query, and press Enter. This will direct your search through the custom URL, delivering traditional, AI-filtered results.
For Safari Users
Safari handles custom search engines a bit differently and requires an additional step. Unfortunately, it doesn’t offer native support for adding custom search engines in the same way other browsers do. To achieve AI-free searching in Safari, you’ll first need to install an extension.
Head over to the Apple App Store and download an extension like Customize Search Engine. Once installed, open the extension’s settings. You’ll need to locate where you can modify the default Google search URL and replace it with our special AI-excluding URL: https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14.
After updating the URL within the extension, your Safari searches will now route through this modified Google query, ensuring an AI-free experience. This extra step ensures Safari users can also enjoy the benefits of traditional search results.
Embrace Your AI-Free Search!
With these simple steps, you’re now equipped to take back control of your search results and enjoy a cleaner, more focused browsing experience. Whether you’re concerned about environmental impact, accuracy, or simply prefer traditional web results, excluding AI is now easily within your grasp across nearly every major browser.
Source: ZDNet – AI
