Google is testing search without its AI chat mode
Glenn Gabe spotted results pages missing both the AI Mode tab and the follow-up question box.
Google is testing search results pages with no AI Mode tab and no "Ask anything" box under the AI answer. Glenn Gabe spotted it and Barry Schwartz reported it, noting it comes after earlier tests that removed AI Mode buttons from the Google home page.
AI Mode is Google's chat-style search, where you ask a question and keep asking follow-ups instead of clicking through to websites. The "Ask anything" box is the prompt that sits under an AI Overview (the AI-written answer at the top of results) and invites you to carry on the conversation. In the version Gabe saw, both were gone.
Why it caught people's attention
Gabe's point is about what the box does. Take it away and the path from a normal results page into a chat session closes. He wrote that removing it "would actually stop people from continuing the conversation in AI Mode", and guessed Google is measuring how many people end up in AI Mode when that door is shut.
He also flagged the timing. In Google's Q3 earnings the company said AI Mode made less money per search than traditional search results. Gabe called the timing "wild" given that. Nobody outside Google knows whether the two things are connected.
Gabe also got a survey pop-up during the test, which he missed before he could read the questions. So there is no public detail on what Google was asking users.
What this means for your site
Nothing, today. This is a test on some searches for some people, not a change Google has announced or rolled out. Gabe said so himself and so did Schwartz. Tests like this get dropped all the time.
It is worth knowing about because of the direction it hints at. Most of the news this year has run the other way, with Google pushing AI answers into more places. We have covered AI Overview source links moving further down the page and AI Mode taking four ads per answer. A test that quietly removes the entrance to AI Mode is the first sign in a while pointing the other direction.
If you run a small business site, do nothing in response to this. There is no setting to change and no page to fix. Keep an eye on your own numbers in Search Console rather than reacting to a test that may never ship. If Google does pull back on AI Mode, it would likely mean more people on standard results pages, which is where your links already are.
the timing is wild considering Google's Q3 earnings where they said AI Mode monetization was lower than traditional search results
that would actually stop people from continuing the conversation in AI Mode
Be the person who already knew
One email a day. Under three minutes. You will hear about a Google change before it shows up in your traffic.