Google Integrates AI Summaries: An iOS Browser Already Removes Them

Google Integrates AI Summaries: An iOS Browser Already Removes Them

Soon, your Google search results will be accompanied by AI-generated summaries, including in France. An independent developer didn't wait for the rollout to react: his iPhone browser is already removing them, without the need for a content blocker.

In France, Google search has not yet undergone significant changes. The AI-generated summaries, which are already appearing in over 200 countries, have not yet been integrated due to a dispute regarding the neighboring rights of the press. However, the deadline is approaching, and an independent developer has already found a solution: let's discover Quiche, a privacy-focused iOS browser that has made the removal of these boxes its main selling point.

A Browser Designed by One Person

Quiche is developed by a single individual, Greg de J, under the banner of Quiche Industries. Its hallmark lies in its extensive customization: almost every button, whether in the toolbar or the main menu, can be moved, rearranged, or completely removed. For those who do not appreciate the idea of configuring everything manually, a gallery of presets allows users to start from a predefined base, ranging from minimalism to a more cluttered interface. The tab manager even estimates the reading time of each article and allows sorting tabs by domain, thus transforming the browser into a sort of read-it-later app. An integrated JavaScript switch in the toolbar also allows users to disable a site's script with a single click, enhancing page fluidity.

Since a mid-July update, Quiche disables AI summaries in search results by default, without the user needing to activate anything. Technically, it is not a content blocker: when you perform a search on Google, DuckDuckGo, or Bing, the app discreetly redirects you to the version of the results without the AI box. Google retains the classic presentation in the background, without a summary at the top of the page; Quiche leads you directly through this backdoor. You thus receive the complete list of links, without the block that usually appears at the top of the screen. Those who wish to keep their summaries can reactivate them in the settings.

Why This Comes at a Perfect Time for French Internet Users

The AI Summaries have never been offered in France, and their arrival is now expected before September 23, with France being one of the last markets in the world to make this transition. In other words, a browser capable of eliminating these summaries arrives just as French internet users are about to discover them, whether they asked for it or not.

The underlying question remains: why would one want to do without them? The criticisms are well-documented. These summaries often get it wrong, to the point that a German court recently held Google responsible for the misleading information disseminated by its summaries, a first. The organization Common Sense Media also highlighted their failure in a safety test aimed at children. Furthermore, there is the crux of the matter for publishers, whose content is used to feed the AI without clicks or revenue following (which partly explains the ongoing French battle over neighboring rights).

In the realm of alternatives, Quiche is not alone: it was on track to dethrone Arc Search among its testers and joins the small group of iPhone browsers positioning themselves as alternatives to Safari. Its uniqueness lies in this anti-AI setting activated by default, which neither Google nor other browsers spontaneously offer.

With the summaries not even yet integrated into Google France, an escape route already exists, which speaks volumes about the public's actual appetite for this issue. For those who wish to maintain control over their results before the page reorganizes around AI, switching browsers remains, for now, the most straightforward solution.