Keep normal search next to AI answers in your product

This print by Utagawa Hiroshige is Evening Snow at Kambara, from The Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido (1833-1834). Snow covers the road, but the travelers still choose their own way.

When a search tool gave users only AI answers, they searched less, trusted it less and liked it less.

The study. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and Northeastern University did a field experiment (a test with real users). The test had 1,100 Google users in the US in March 2026. For 7 days, a browser add-on (a small extra program for the browser) gave each person 1 of 3 types of search. These types were normal Google search, search without AI and only AI Mode.

The finding. Users with only AI Mode went to websites 18.8 percentage points less often. They also did 0.92 fewer search sessions each day. Their satisfaction decreased by 0.73 standard deviations. This is a large decrease. Users with no AI showed no clear decrease in satisfaction or trust.

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