Google has seriously leaned into AI enshittification lately

Summary

KETTLE Google I/O has ostensibly been an AI show for a few years running, but this year's announcements have taken the cake, which Google seems all to happy to let its users eat as it reshapes the web. On this week's episode of The Kettle, host Brandon Vigliarolo is joined by El Reg senior reporter Tom Claburn and open source reporter Liam Proven to discuss how Google's bevy of AI announcements, and declaration that we're entering the era of AI search, might not play well with customers. From an enlarged AI mode, to AI ads stuffed into AI answers, and pushing AI devs onto closed-source tools after shuttering open-source ones, Google is leaning hard into its version of the future of the internet no matter what users might think, and we wonder whether that might finally crack Google's stranglehold on the web. You can listen to The Kettle here, as well as on Spotify and Apple Music, or read the transcript of the latest episode below. It's been lightly edited for clarity. Brandon (00:04)Welcome back to another episode of The Register's Kettle Podcast. I'm your host Brandon Vigliarolo, and you've likely heard about this week's topic if you've paid any attention to the internet in the past week. Google said at its annual I/O event that it's reinventing search for the AI era. But from an outsider perspective, it seems a lot more like Google's leaning into AI as an excuse to reshape the web and Gemini's image, regardless of how that might affect access to the open web. Unpredictably, there are a lot of people calling foul over that and other recent AI moves made by Google.With me to discuss this is El Reg Senior Reporter Tom Claburn. And joining us for the first time on this iteration of the kettle is our open source guru Liam Proven. Thanks to both of you for being here.Thomas Claburn (00:45)Thanks.Liam Proven (00:46)Thank you.Brandon (00:46) So hey, Google's AI-ification of search was the big news to come out of I/O this week. Tom, you tuned into the keynote and wrote abo...