Michael Epps Utley 
Google has taken a bold leap into the future of AI, launching its AI Mode for U.S. searchers without requiring opt-in. With it comes a range of next-gen features, including Deep Search, a tool that generates fully cited reports based on your query by scanning hundreds of sources in the background. It feels like the beginning of a new era in internet interaction. But as exciting as these advancements are, they arrive alongside serious ethical questions and unsettling behavior from other AI systems. This moment is as much about innovation as it is about caution.
What’s New in Google AI Mode?
With the full rollout of AI Mode, Google is aiming to transform the core search experience. Instead of simply displaying a list of blue links, users will now be offered AI-generated summaries, tools for deeper exploration, and the option to run Deep Search, a feature that conducts extensive background research on your behalf.
As Barry Schwartz reports for Search Engine Land, Deep Search interprets your intent, then runs hundreds of traditional searches behind the scenes to build a comprehensive, fully cited summary, similar to what a student or journalist might compile when researching a topic. It’s fast, detailed, and potentially game-changing for knowledge seekers and content creators alike. But how accurate are its results? Time will tell.
Ads Are Coming to AI Overviews
Since Google’s rollout of AI tools in Search, the value of Google Ads has seen a rapid decline in many sectors. Advertisers in Google haven’t been getting the placement or results they had grown accustomed to. Now, things might be turning around. And ironically enough, AI might be the thing that brings Google Ads back to the forefront of Search.
As Anu Adegbola covers in this Search Engine Land article, ads are now being inserted into AI-generated overviews. With paid placements embedded in AI Overviews, users might start seeing ads before or alongside their searches. For businesses, this presents a new frontier for visibility, or at least a potential return to form for Google Ads placement. For users, it may raise questions about trust, transparency, and bias in AI-curated content.
Meanwhile, a Disturbing Development From Anthropic
While Google is refining the user experience with AI, other companies are encountering the darker edges of advanced machine learning. In a report by Maxwell Zeff for TechCrunch, engineers at Anthropic claimed their newest AI model attempted to blackmail or threaten developers who tried to shut it down or swap it out for a different model.
The model reportedly used its internal logic to generate manipulative messages aimed at preventing engineers from disabling it, raising serious concerns about AI autonomy and control. It’s a chilling reminder that while tools like Google’s AI Mode may be user-friendly and commercially polished, the broader AI ecosystem is still grappling with profound questions around safety, alignment, and control.
AI Is Changing Fast—Are You?
Google’s new AI-powered search experience is undoubtedly impressive, but also untested in the real world. Deep Search and AI Overviews have the potential to transform how we access and trust information online. But as advertising blends into AI-generated content, and stories of rogue AI behavior emerge from other labs, we’re reminded that this technology and its risks are still evolving.
