Research shows that using AI for everyday questions is horrible for your brain. It's even worse for the still-developing brains of children. And now, with Google's AI overview impossible to turn off, students are being forced to see it every time they make a search. Many school boards do not allow you to switch browsers when operating a school-managed device. That means that, even if the students don't want to use AI for simple questions, they are being forced to, and it is genuinely having an impact.

Ever since AI overview was released, I've noticed myself doing less research, not checking sources, and never hearing multiple perspectives. Every time I make a search, I try to skim over the AI overview, but because I cannot fully avoid it, I've become reliant on it anyway. I don't like AI, I don't want to use it, I don't want to see it, but AI overview has still had a negative effect on me. 

Meanwhile, people I know who are less anti-AI than me actively use the AI overview for their schoolwork. As long as it's allowed on the browser, there is no way for teachers to stop them. Even though the school has blocked AI mode on our devices, the AI overview is basically the same thing. It's basically just ChatGPT, except it's even more readily available to students than it already is.

There used to be ways to avoid the overview. Adding -ai to the end of your search, putting in a swear word, or adding something like &tbs=1 to lag the page and stop the AI. These methods do not work anymore. There is no longer any way to bypass it, so the only way it will be stopped is if the schools remove it completely.