Google has done something many assumed it would never risk: it has rebuilt the heart of its search engine around artificial intelligence. In late May the company flipped the switch to power its core global search with Gemini 3.5 Flash, making a conversational interface the default rather than an optional extra.
For decades the familiar list of blue links defined what it meant to search the web. That experience is now being pushed into the background. Users can ask complex questions in plain language and follow up with clarifying queries directly on the main results page, without toggling into a separate AI mode. The search box, in its traditional form, is quietly being retired.
The implications are enormous. Publishers, retailers and anyone who depends on search traffic have spent years optimising for a system of ranked links. A conversational engine that synthesises answers changes the calculus, raising hard questions about how often people will click through to original sources and how creators will be credited and compensated.
Google is not moving in isolation. Apple is reportedly preparing a significant shift of its own, one that would let users choose third-party AI providers, including Google and Anthropic, to power its assistant features across the next versions of its phone, tablet and desktop software. If that materialises, the assistant on a given device would no longer be a fixed, single-vendor experience but something the user selects, much as they choose a default browser today.
Taken together, these moves point to a broader convergence. Search engines are becoming assistants, assistants are becoming the front door to the web, and the lines between a query, a conversation and a task are blurring. The winners will be the companies that make answers feel trustworthy and fast, while the open web wrestles with what it means when fewer people visit the pages that generated the knowledge in the first place.
For now the change is live and millions of people are already using it, often without realising the machinery underneath has fundamentally changed. ExstarHub will be tracking how the new search behaves, and what it means for the sites and services that rely on being found.
