• by Laurie Sullivan , June 29, 2026

One word searched in Google AI Overviews "broke" the technology, and Google Vice President and Head of Search Liz Read finally explains how and why.

Searching for the word "ignore" on Google AI Overviews "broke" the technology in May, because it treated the query as a command instead of a dictionary definition, Reid said.

Reid said a bug in AI Overviews misunderstood the word "ignore" and it demonstrated that Google needed to open definitions and information to a much longer list of words and languages. 

"We do put extra effort into things we view as high risk," she said, adding: "We put extra scrutiny on things like medical and finances because we know they are high stakes."

Jason Howell and Jeff Jarvis, hosts of AI Inside, spoke with Reid about the "word that broke the internet," paywalls that reduce traffic to publisher sites, personalized search results, and that users have adapted to conversational search much faster than Google had expected.

People are asking longer questions and preceding it with "I," Reid said. For example, “I am looking for a restaurant near the corner of the 405 Freeway and Edinger in Huntington Beach, California."

AI Mode in May surpassed one billion monthly users globally, which Google announced at I/O in May.

Queries now average three times the length of traditional searches, and total query volume has more than doubled every quarter since the feature's U.S. launch in the year-ago month.

When asked whether Google Search and Gemini, Google’s AI tool, will merge, Reid said that behind the scenes, the two share a lot of technology and tools. Search puts more emphasis on information, whereas Gemini focuses on creativity and productivity.

“We think of the two products as sharing a lot of tools, but having too North Stars,” she said.

Interestingly, personalization affects publisher traffic. Reid explained when keywords are not personalized, content returned is similar. A generic query surfaces generic results.

Personalization allows smaller merchants and publishers to serve up in AI search in a new way, as well as reviewers -- those who specialize in something.

Google also optimized preferred sources to serve up more often, extending the tool into AI Overviews and AI Mode in May.

There are multiple changes occurring in addition to AI, Reid said.

When asked about the decline in traffic, she provided details about paywalls, describing a repeated pattern among publishers, such as traffic declining when they add a paywall.

"Yes, yes, that is what will happen if you charge," Reid said.

Paywalls are not wrong, but they should expect a decline in traffic as the expected outcome from restricting access, Reid said -- adding that the more unique content produced through expertise and genuine insights, the greater possibility that it will bring readers.

The podcast interview also addressed how publishers can verify that personalization works. Google AI impressions in Search Console is a metric that shows marketers how often content appears in AI-generated features.

"We're still learning," she said, adding that AI Mode and AI Overviews are still young.