Google's I/O 2026 keynote scrapped the search box that has anchored the web for 25 years. Bloggers, publishers and freelancers are sounding the alarm.

Last year marked the beginning of Google’s explicit focus on AI search, and this year’s I/O solidified that shift. As Google’s search VP Liz Reid said during the keynote, Go

Google’s search business survived the chatbot boom — and now its AI tools and cloud services are accelerating the company’s growth.

Google called the new AI-powered Search box the biggest upgrade to Search in more than 25 years. In the era of agentic AI, this means that it’s about doing more than searching.

Don’t worry, you can talk to ads now! According to a report from Search Engine Land, at this year’s Google Marketing Live event, the company announced a new generation of “conversational” advertisements that will soon start to populate search results.

Jake Peterson is Lifehacker’s Tech Editor, and has been covering tech news and how-tos for nearly a decade. His team covers all things technology, including AI, smartphones, computers, game consoles, and subscriptions. May 20, 2026 Add as a preferred ...

A BBC investigation revealed a simple way to get AI chatbots to spit out misinformation. Google and other AI companies are now trying to fix the problem.

Google has unveiled a sweeping overhaul of its artificial intelligence products, search engine and wearable tech at its annual I/O conference in California, and news.com.au is on the ground to help unpack it all.