When I ask my students to use the library database to find scholarly peer-reviewed journal articles, some students stick with the search methods they’re already familiar with, and they submit works cited lists that include articles written by undergraduate interns, or articles from low-value pay-to-publish ecosystems like “Frontiers.”

While I don’t read every article students put in their bibliographies, if I see something missing or malformed in the citation, I will do a spot check to see what’s up. Early in the semester I’m very supportive, and give students ample opportunities to revise.

Most students just type their questions in whatever social media app they feel most comfortable using. Now that most of the apps are pushing out AI summaries by defaults, students aren’t clicking on links to read what’s on the other end, they’re just going with whatever vague summary the bot puts on their screen.

The advice I used to give for how to conduct useful Google searches rally doesn’t apply to their day-to-day lives. We are well past the point where I can just show them tips for how to search with Google, because the internet is just swamped with AI generated drivel, and the “homework helper” websites inject ads for “plagiarism-free custom essay” because who wants to learn critical thinking skills for yourself when the oligarchs in charge of what you see on your phone have written an algorithm to do the thinking for you?

Food for thought as I contemplate the sprint that will end this semester.

If Google were a ship, it would be the Titanic in the hours before it struck an iceberg—riding high, supposedly unsinkable, and about to encounter a force of nature that could make its name synonymous with catastrophe.

The trends moving against Google are so numerous and interrelated that the Justice Department’s attempt to dismantle the company—the specifics of which were unveiled Nov. 20—could be the least of its problems.

The company’s core business is under siege. People are increasingly getting answers from artificial intelligence. Younger generations are using other platforms to gather information. And the quality of the results delivered by its search engine is deteriorating as the web is flooded with AI-generated content. Taken together, these forces could lead to long-term decline in Google search traffic, and the outsize profits generated from it… –Christopher Mims, Wall Street Journal