The conclusion of Google I/O 2026: the era of AI search begins

Google is a lot of things, but it’s usually a verb: It’s what it takes to search the Internet for information. But what if it is an AI assistant who is investigating? And are they doing it proactively? Without telling you about it? In a world where Google thinks, where most of the real things happen without your prompting, involvement, or knowledge, can you still call Google a search engine?

These are the topic questions we get into this part of The Vergecast. But first, we have some business to discuss. There is corporate affairs – which amounts to “nothing important is changing” – and there are interesting podcast stories. The Vergecast It’s going on every day! Starting June 1, we’ll be in your feed five days a week. We want to hear all your thoughts, story ideas, comments, deep fears, and frustrations about it all, so give us a call at 866-VERGE11 or email us at vergecast@theverge.com.

So on to the news of the week. The news comes from Google I / O, where Nilay went to talk about the event and chat with Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Nilay and David discuss all the ways search is changing, why Google seems so confident in its place in the AI ​​ecosystem, and what this means for the future of the Internet. And, frankly, even the Internet still has a future.

If you want to learn more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are the links to get you started: