Exclude AI from Searches: A Simple Method for Browsers

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Key Takeaways

1Artificial intelligence consumes a lot of energy and water, which impacts the environment.

2AI results can be unreliable, especially for technical questions like Linux.

3Creating a personalized search engine allows users to avoid AI results in Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.

💡Why it matters — Reducing environmental impact and improving the reliability of online searches are crucial issues for users concerned about the impact of AI.

Why Exclude AI Results?

Artificial intelligence has infiltrated many aspects of our daily lives, sometimes making it difficult to avoid. However, it is possible to reduce its influence, particularly in search engines. Several reasons may motivate the choice to exclude AI results:

AI consumes a significant amount of energy, which increases the load on the electrical grid.
AI data centers require excessive water usage for cooling.
The information provided by AI is not always reliable. For example, during searches on Linux, some data turned out to be incorrect.

These reasons are sufficient to consider not including AI results in your searches.

How to Create a Custom Search Engine

We will explore how to create or modify a custom search engine in your browser. This method has been successfully tested on Chrome, Opera, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. The only browser presenting complications is Safari, which requires the prior installation of an extension called Customize Search Engine from the Apple App Store.

Customizing the Search Engine in Firefox

If Google is your default search engine in Firefox, you cannot directly modify its entry. To work around this limitation, we will create a custom search engine using Google:

Go to Settings, click on Search, then scroll down to the Search Shortcuts section.
Click on Add at the bottom of this section.

In the pop-up window, fill in the following information:

Search engine name: Choose a name that is easily understandable.
URL: Use the following URL: https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14
Keyword: Opt for aig (for "AI-less Google").

After entering this information, click on Add Engine. To use this engine, simply type aig in the address bar, press Tab, enter your search query, and hit Enter. Google will then open in the Web tab with your search results, excluding AI results.

Customizing the Search Engine in Chrome

In Chrome, the process is similar:

Open Chrome and go to Settings > Search Engine.
Click on Add and enter the following information in the pop-up window:

Name: AI-Less Chrome
Shortcut: aig
URL: https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14

Click on Add, and you're done. Use this shortcut in the same way as in Firefox.

Customizing the Search Engine in Safari

For Safari, you first need to install the Customize Search Engine extension. After installation, open the extension and replace the default Google address with: https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14.

Once this is done, you are ready to use it.

Conclusion

You can apply this process on any web browser that allows the addition of custom search engines. Since most browsers are based on Chrome or Firefox, you should not encounter issues with your default browser, except for Safari.