How to Disable the AI Overview in Google Search — Took me a bit to figure out
Honestly, trying to turn off those AI summaries or overlays in Google Search felt like chasing my tail. One minute it’s nothing, then suddenly I’d get these AI-generated snippets or insights that I didn’t ask for, especially on a recent Chrome update. If you’re like me and prefer your searches plain and simple without Google showing off AI stuff, here’s what finally worked — after a lot of trial, error, and digging through menus that seem to hide things on purpose.
Getting into Google Settings — And where to look
First, the obvious step is trying to find the right settings menu. Usually, clicking the gear icon at the top right of Google’s homepage or search results will get you somewhere. Sometimes it’s just “Settings,” sometimes “Search Settings.” If it’s not there, I’ve found it better to type https://www.google.com/preferences directly into the address bar. That’s where Google gives you a bunch of options.
From there, it’s a matter of locating anything related to AI summaries, insights, or overlays. Honestly, Google doesn’t make it explicit. Often, these might be in what’s called Search Settings or under something like Experiments.
Scroll through Search Settings & Experiment Flags
In the main Search Settings page, you can scroll down and see options like “Enable/Disable AI Features” if present. Sometimes, you’re out of luck — the setting isn’t there. When that happens, try visiting chrome://flags and searching for keywords like “AI,” “overview,” or “enhancement.” These flags are experimental switches buried deep in Chrome, and toggling them can turn things off but beware: changing flags can cause weird browser behavior or force you to restart Chrome, and some flags might be renamed or moved after updates.
> Caution — toggling these flags is experimental. If things go sideways, you might need to reset to default or disable the flag again.
Managing Search Engines & Custom URLs — A workaround that finally helped
This part is kinda clever. I realized that rather than trying to find a toggle in menus that are half-locked or missing, I could add a custom search engine that suppresses the AI overview. Basically, you go to Manage Search Engines. On Chrome, in chrome://settings/searchEngines or via the “Manage Search Engines” menu, hit Add.
Here’s the trick: put in a custom URL like https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&overlays=false. I read somewhere that appending &overlays=false (or similar parameters) might disable the overlay. It didn’t work perfectly for me every time, but switching to this custom search engine seemed to stop the AI pop-ups.
After adding your custom URL, give it a label like “No AI” or “Plain Search” and then click the three-dot menu next to it, choosing Make Default. That way, when you search, it uses the URL with the manual tweak rather than the standard Google one.
Finally, restart and test
If you’ve set that as default, close all Chrome windows and restart the browser. Perform some searches. Hopefully, the AI summaries or overlays are gone. If not, maybe clear your cookies and cache or sign out then back in—Google sometimes resets preferences on account activity. Keep in mind, Google updates their UI or possibly changes parameters, so what worked today might need a tweak tomorrow.
Extras & caveats — What else might help
If you just want to avoid AI summaries temporarily, one quick fix is to browse in Incognito Mode (Shift + Ctrl + N) — that way, your preferences aren’t remembered, and you might avoid certain overlays. Alternatively, switching to a different search engine like DuckDuckGo or Bing often keeps the AI stuff out of your face.
And yes, some browser extensions claim to block these overlays or disable AI features. If you’re into that, give those a shot, but be cautious — extensions can sometimes interfere with page rendering or privacy.
Honestly, I was surprised how buried these options are. It seems like Google wants to keep people from easily turning these off, probably to push their AI agenda. It’s frustrating seeing these hidden toggles and flags, especially since they change UI elements in updates.
Wrap-up & what to double-check
- Ensure you’re on the latest Chrome version; old versions might not support some flags or tweaks.
- Visit chrome://flags and search for terms like “AI” or “Overview” just in case some flags are still hiding that might do the trick.
- Clear cache or cookies after changing settings to make sure the preferences stick.
- Try switching to another search engine if all else fails — it might be simpler.
Hope this helps — it took me way too long to figure out all the angles. Good luck, and hopefully this saves someone else a couple of hours of frustration!