There’s a disgusting irony in Google announcement that search queries on their platform hit an “all time high” in the first quarter of 2026.

Search had a strong quarter with AI experiences driving usage, queries at an all time high, and 19% revenue growth.

Part of me wants to scream, “Of course it did, Sundar”!

It wouldn’t be a stretch to say people are searching more because the AI returned results are, at best, shit of questionable quality and, at a minimum, cannot be trusted. Therefore, you’re getting more search queries because users have to work harder to get a reliable answer.

The other part of me finds it deplorable that Google is profiting from this while giving so little back to the websites.

Thanks to AI overviews clicks through to publishers’ websites (you know – the place where Google took the information from) are down 15% to 60%. This is devastating for publishers, small businesses and a free internet.

It will be interesting to see what happens when the ouroboros of AI and AI search inevitably makes publishing anything online financially nonviable. What then? How will growth continue without new content to steal and absorb?

Content created by AI is already polluting AI results and datasets. Shit in, shit out! Right?