The blue links that built Google's empire are getting pushed off the page.
On Tuesday at I/O 2026, Google showed off the biggest change to its search box in 25 years. The new look swaps ranked links for AI answers, custom widgets, and bots that go searching while you sleep.
Liz Reid, who runs Google Search, said the box can now build "custom experiences" just for your question.
The classic Google flow was simple. You type a query, you get a list of sites.
Now that flow is being rebuilt around a smart search box. It can take longer, chat-like questions.
In place of the old ten blue links, Search will sometimes drop you into a live AI answer.
You might get a custom visual or a follow-up box right inside the result.
Google is also rolling out "info agents." These run in the back and watch the web for changes. They ping you when a price drops, a stock moves, or a new SEC filing hits.
Down the road, you will be able to build mini apps inside Search too. Just type in plain words, and Google's new agent tool Antigravity does the rest.
For investors, Market Briefs does the same thing each weekday - in five minutes, with a free investing class when you join.
Google's AI tools are already huge.
AI Overviews are the short AI write-ups at the top of search. They now reach 2.5 billion users a month.
That is more than any other AI product out there.
AI Mode is the chat-style search box. It tops 1 billion users a month.
For comparison, ChatGPT is at about 900 million each week.
The catch: Google has more total users on AI, but ChatGPT users come back more often during the week.
The new system runs on Google's Gemini Flash 3.5 model. It was built with the DeepMind team.
The new search box is free and rolls out this week to all users.
Sites should brace for the hit. Fewer clicks on links means fewer ad bucks flowing from Google to the sites that fed it for two decades.
AI Overviews have already cut into web traffic. The new live answers will make that worse.
The mini-app tool and info agents roll out first to Google AI Pro and Ultra users this summer.
CEO Sundar Pichai said the goal is to bring these tools to as many people as can use them at low cost.
For stock pickers, the shift is worth tracking on a few fronts:
Google built its empire on links. Now it is the answer.
If you want a clear read on what AI shifts mean for stocks, sign up for Market Briefs - the daily email comes with a free 45-minute investing course as a bonus.
