In this tutorial, we will show you how to remove AI-generated answers from the top of your Google search results on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. These tips also work on an Android phone, Windows PC, and elsewhere.
Google now shows an AI-generated overview at the top of the search results page for most (not all) queries. At this point, these answers are not only unhelpful but can even get downright dangerous.
For instance, Google’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) summaries can rely on decade-old obscure Reddit answers or other web forum and website articles, including satirical ones like The Onion, to suggest outrageous answers like putting glue in pizza, drinking urine to fix kidney stones, or eating one small rock every day.
If you do not want these unhelpful answers on your or your kids’ search results page, we go over various ways to remove them.
Manually go to the web tab
When you search for something on Google, it will default you to the “All” categories view with the AI answers at the top. Simply click More > Web to get answers without all the AI nonsense.
If you’re on mobile, swipe the categories at the top and tap Web.
The rest of the tips in this guide are based on this principle to get to the “Web” section easily by default instead of “All.”
Note: The Web view also removes some handy Google smart features. For instance, it will remove the currency conversion calculator that you usually see on top of the search results if you search for something like 32 USD in Pounds.
Use udm14.com instead of Google
Instead of Google.com or one of its country-specific domains like Google.co.in, you can simply use udm14.com as your window to search for your queries. It will show you Google search results without all the AI-generated content.
Configure a userscript for Safari
The majority of Apple users rely on Safari for their web browsing. Unlike Chrome, there isn’t an extension to remove AI answers from Google search, but you can use a clever userscript by Zenith along with a Safari extension to always see the AI-free “Web” answers on Google instead of “All” answers. This tip also works for other browsers like Chrome and Firefox.
On Mac
1) Install the Userscripts Safari extension from the Mac App Store.
2) Visit this GitHub page and click script.user.js.
3) Now, copy the entire code.
4) Open Safari, go to Safari Settings > Extensions, and enable the Userscripts extension.
5) Open a Safari tab and visit Google.com. Now, click the Userscripts extension icon from the toolbar and allow it to work on the website if prompted. You can prevent it from working on other sites.
6) Click the Userscripts extension icon again and select Open Extensions Page.
7) Click the plus button here and select New JS.
8) Clear the placeholder text you see and paste the code you copied from GitHub here. After that, click Save.
9) Open a new Safari tab and search for something on Google. This extension, with the help of Zenith’s userscript, will automatically take you to AI-free “Web” results instead of “All” results.
On iOS
Safari on iPhone and iPad also supports extensions. We will show you how to configure the extension you used on your Mac to remove AI summaries from your Google search page on mobile.
1) Download the Userscripts extensions from the iOS App Store on your iPhone or iPad. If you have already set up the Userscripts extension on your Mac, you can go to iOS Settings > Safari > Extensions and tap Get next to Userscripts.
2) Open the Userscripts app and tap Set Userscripts Directory. Now, choose a folder from your local storage in the Files app and tap Open to set it.
3) Next, visit this GitHub code page by Zenith and tap the three dots icon > Download.
4) After that, go to the Downloads folder in your Files app and move the downloaded script.user.js file to the folder you set as the directory in step 2. You can copy or move the file. You can also press and hold the script.user.js file with one finger and drag it slightly. Now, use your other hand to navigate to the folder in step 2 and drop the file there.
5) After the script.user.js file is in the directory (Files app location) of the Userscripts extension, open Safari, visit Google.com, and search for something. Now, tap AA from the address bar and select Userscripts. Allow the extension to access Google.com if prompted. Now, you will see the Fix Google Web Search JS file active here. If you tap it, the script becomes inactive, so don’t do that. In case you don’t see it, tap the folder icon.
6) From now on, when you search for a query in Google, it will take you to the AI-free “Web” results instead of “All” results, thus protecting you from AI-generated answers.
Use Chrome extensions
If you use Chrome, Brave, Microsoft Edge, Opera, and other Chromium browsers on your Mac or Windows PC, you can use extensions like Bye Bye Google AI or Hide Google AI Overviews to get rid of AI answers from your search results.
Bye Bye Google AI also lets you hide other things like Discussions and Forums and Sponsored Links from your search results.
Configure Chrome, Brave, Edge, and other Chromium browsers to remove Google AI Overviews
While the extension method is simple, if you have second thoughts about using an extension, you can manually configure your web browser to show “Web” results without AI summaries. The process is easy and will take less than a minute. We will use Chrome, but the steps are almost similar for other Chromium browsers.
1) Open Chrome and go to its settings. You can do this by clicking Chrome > Settings from Mac’s top menu bar or by clicking the three dots icon from the upper right corner and selecting Settings.
2) Click Search engine > Manage search engines and site search.
3) Click the Add button next to Site search.
4) Fill in the following details and hit Add:
- Name: Google Web or anything you like, such as Google Without AI
- Shortcut: @web
- URL with %s in place of query: {google:baseURL}search?q=%s&udm=14
5) Click the three dots icon next to the Search engine shortcut you created and select Make default.
From now on, when you search for a query in Google, you will be taken to the “Web” results that do not show AI summaries and answers.
Set AI-free Google search engine in Firefox on iOS
If you already use Firefox on your iPhone, iPad, or Android phone or are willing to switch to it, you can easily get a cleaner AI-free Google search experience. These steps below allow you to set Google as the search engine, but with a minor change that adds udm=14&q=%s to your search queries, thus removing AI answers.
1) Open Firefox on your iPhone, iPad, or Android phone. We are using an iPhone.
2) Tap the hamburger menu icon from the lower right corner and select Settings.
3) Tap Search under the General heading.
4) Tap Add Search Engine.
5) Fill in the following details and tap Save:
- Title: Give it a name. I’m going with Google Without AI.
- URL: https://www.google.com/search?udm=14&q=%s
6) Now tap the entry under the Default Search Engine section at the top and select Google Without AI.
7) Open a tab in Firefox and search for a query. You will be taken to the “Web” tab, which does not show AI summaries.
If you use Chrome on iOS
Tenbluelinks.org suggests a way to change the search engine in Chrome on iPhone and iPad, but it did not work for me. So, if you use Chrome on iOS, give it a try and let me know if it works for you.
On a related note: How to prevent specific sites from appearing in your Google search results