According to a July 23, 2026, Business Standard article by Kate Conger, Google, which once championed the open web by providing hyperlinks to other sites, is now shrinking back from it in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Since last year, Google revamped its search with AI, introducing AI Mode, which replaces search results of hyperlinks with conversational responses from its Gemini AI chatbot. Most recently, Google changed its iconic search box for the first time in 25 years to allow users to add photos and videos to queries and assign AI agents to run searches. The effect of these moves is that people are spending more time with Google than ever.