How Google Won the Search War

This week, we’re bringing you an episode from the podcast No Such Thing. Join Manny, Noah, and Devan — three best friends and journalists — as they settle dumb arguments by actually doing the research. Each week, they start with a debate or discussion. In this episode, they ask: ... Show More

Tilly Norwood caused quite a stir when she was introduced in late 2025. Her creator, actor-producer Eline Van der Velden, said she wanted Tilly to be the “Scarlett Johansson” of AI actors. But she immediately felt the backlash from Hollywood. Emily Blunt called Tilly “really, rea ... Show More

How often do you use ChatGPT to evaluate your ailments? Did it work? More and more people are turning to chatbots to diagnose their illnesses — with varied success. But when it does work, it can be life-changing. Dr. Dhruv Khullar heard of a case where ChatGPT identified the caus ... Show More

<p>Google -- or, more properly, Alphabet -- is a huge company, and is at the bleeding edge of numerous technological innovations. So, while it wasn't necessarily a surprise that Uncle Sam wanted Google's help building AI, it certainly disturbed a great many people, some of whom w ... Show More

There was one important trait that Google shared with the dotcoms: it wasn’t making very much money. It’s somewhat forgotten, given what would come later, but Google existed for several years without much of a business plan. The vision Larry and Sergey had sold the Venture Capita ... Show More

<p>On May 14th 2024, Google introduced their Search Generative Experience, a service that uses hallucination-prone artificial intelligence to generate answers to queries rather than just presenting links, all so that they could Wall Street that they're innovative and future-forwa ... Show More

When Larry and Sergey first met, they didn’t like each other much...BIBLIOGRAPHY:In The Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives The Google Story How Google Works The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture Googled: ... Show More

Something strange, new, and unsettling is happening in media right now. Huge institutions, both newspapers and online outlets, are being severely transformed by layoffs. As a person just trying to find good information on the internet, what are you supposed to do? We’re joined th ... Show More

Google rushed out fixes after its AI search feature made errors that went viral. Fundamental limitations of generative AI mean that it will still screw up sometimes. 

After stumbling on a new kind of search engine for faces, we called privacy journalist Kashmir Hill. She’s been reporting on the very sudden and unregulated rise of these facial search engines. Here’s the story of the very first one, the mysterious person who made it, and the cop ... Show More

Australia just reined in Google. Dozens of other countries want in on the action. The latest season of Land of the Giants explains how two grad students turned a search engine into what might be the most powerful company in history. Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained. Learn mor ... Show More