Hacker News with Generative AI: Search Engines

Google is quietly burying the internet – is there a solution? (ycombinator.com)
Google’s new AI Mode doesn’t just summarize the web. It sidelines it.
Google is burying the web alive (nymag.com)
Google Is Burying the Web Alive
You Don't Need Re-Ranking: Understanding the Superlinked Vector Layer (superlinked.com)
When it comes to vector search, it's not just about matching words. Understanding the meaning behind them is equally important. But there are challenges. Sometimes, factors like text meaning, popularity, and recency can lead to results that aren't quite right. This is because vector search isn't always perfect at making precise matches.
Google faces a dilemma: improve Google Search or go beyond it? (eshumarneedi.com)
At last year’s I/O developer conference, Google played catch-up to OpenAI after being caught off-guard by the Silicon Valley start-up’s breakthrough ChatGPT artificial intelligence chatbot, first launched in the fall of 2022.
Google pretends to be in on the joke, but its focus on AI Mode search is serious (arstechnica.com)
Google used to be all about the 10 blue links, but that was then, and this is now. You have to scroll farther than ever to get to the links in Google search results, and now this trend is being taken to its ultimate conclusion. At I/O, the company has announced a major expansion of AI Mode search, which heralds a new era for its signature product.
Google rejected giving publishers more choice to opt out of AI Search (theverge.com)
Google didn’t want to give publishers the choice to keep their content out of AI Search results because it’s “evolving into a space for monetisation.”
Zero-click searches: Google's AI tools are the culmination of its hubris (arstechnica.com)
Google's first year with AI search was a wild ride. It will get wilder.
With AI Mode, Google Search Is About to Get Even Chattier (wired.com)
Google is rolling out its AI Mode search experience to everyone in the US starting today.
AI Mode in Google Search (google)
We're introducing new AI features to make it easier to ask any question in Search.
A simple search engine from scratch (bernsteinbear.com)
Chris and I spent a couple hours the other day creating a search engine for my blog from “scratch”. Mostly he walked me through it because I only vaguely knew what word2vec was before this experiment.
Show HN: Search Engine for Local Events (whereshouldwego.co)
Search for events, meetups, and concerts from Luma, Meetup, Eventbrite, and Ticketmaster using natural language. All in one place.
Internet Search Is Not a Naive Information Retrieval Problem (gojiberries.io)
The research demonstrates something interesting about language models' ability to simulate search behavior in controlled conditions. But claiming equivalence to a "real search engine" is like saying you've built a military defense system because your soldiers performed well in peacetime maneuvers. The real test isn't whether it works when nobody's trying to break it—it's whether it works when half the internet is trying to game it for profit.
Microsoft Cuts Off Access to Bing Search Data as It Shifts Focus to Chatbots (wired.com)
Microsoft quietly announced earlier this week that it plans to shut down a long-standing tool supplying search engine startups and other software developers with a raw feed of Bing search results.
I failed a take-home assignment from Kagi Search (bloggeroo.dev)
I failed a take-home assignment from Kagi Search
PDF to Text, a challenging problem (marginalia.nu)
The search engine has recently gained the ability to index the PDF file format. The change will deploy over a few months.
VerifAI – open-source generative search with verification (github.com/nikolamilosevic86)
VerifAI is a document-based question-answering systems that aims to address problem of hallucinations in generative large language models and generative search engines.
Google stock sinks on report Apple plans to integrate AI search into browser (yahoo.com)
Google (GOOG, GOOGL) stock dropped more than 6% on Wednesday after Apple's senior vice president of services, Eddy Cue, revealed that Apple (AAPL) is exploring adding AI search engines such as Perplexity to its default Safari web browser.
Apple's Eddy Cue says AI will replace search engines (cnbc.com)
Google’s dominance on search is declining – for the first time ever (tuta.com)
For over a decade, Google has dominated the online search market. With a global market share over 90%, Google had the power how billions of people search the web and access information. But now, for the first time since 2015, more than 1 out of 10 people use alternative search engines. Is this a first sign of the Google dominance coming to an end?
Towards the Blank Search Bar (fi-le.net)
The trouble began with a bookmark. A genuinely great web page, or a useful little gadget, which I saved to come back later. It would be a happy moment in my next day, I thought, when I come back to it. Surely enough, I did come back the next day, when I typed some letters into the browser trying to... well, what I was trying to type I cannot exactly recall.
Why Google is losing its iron grip on search, and what I use now instead (zdnet.com)
Google Search's market share is shrinking and it's not just because of AI.
Launch HN: Exa (YC S21) – The web as a database (ycombinator.com)
Hey HN! We’re Will and Jeff from Exa (https://exa.ai). We recently launched Exa Websets, an embeddings-powered search engine designed to return exactly what you’re asking for. You can get precise results for complex queries like “all startups working on open-source developer tools based in SF, founded 2021-2025”.
Bridging the gap between keyword and semantic search with SPLADE (2024) (arcturus-labs.com)
In information retrieval, we often find ourselves between two tools: keyword search and semantic search. Each has strengths and limitations. What if we could combine the best of both?
Google can train search AI with web content even with opt-out (bloomberg.com)
Google can train its search-specific AI products, like AI Overviews, on content across the web even when the publishers have chosen to opt out of training Google’s AI products, a vice-president of product at the company testified in court on Friday.
I've largely replaced Google with ChatGPT for looking things up (twitter.com)
Something went wrong, but don’t fret — let’s give it another shot.
Google Search in Decline (tuta.com)
For over a decade, Google has dominated the online search market. With a global market share over 90%, Google had the power how billions of people search the web and access information. But now, for the first time since 2015, more than 1 out of 10 people use alternative search engines. Is this a first sign of the Google dominance coming to an end?
Try Switching to Kagi (daringfireball.net)
Aaron Pressman, writing earlier this month in The Boston Globe, “Why I Abandoned Google Search After 27 Years — and What I’m Using Instead”:
Asymmetric Content Moderation in Search Markets: The Case of Adult Websites (ssrn.com)
We study the competitive impact of content moderation by a dominant online platform.
Google Search AI invents plausible meanings for any phrase (bsky.app)
Break Google's Search Monopoly Without Breaking the Web (open-web-advocacy.org)
In late 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), in conjunction with state attorneys general representing 11 states, brought a landmark antitrust case against Google for unlawfully maintaining a monopoly in the general search engine market.