Even if you think AI search could be good, it won’t be good

Cory Doctorow argues that AI search will not be good even if Google's AI is excellent, because AI search makes it far too easy for Google to cheat users and publishers. He says Google's search results have degraded, with AI-generated spam, poorly labeled ads, and SEO garbage, and that AI summaries create opportunities to charge publishers for preferential placement. He attributes Google's ability to act without consequence to the end of competitive, regulatory, and worker pressure, and he cites Madeleine Clare Elish's description of AI as a "moral crumple zone" that offers plausible deniability.