Google's AI Mode help page describes no setting to turn AI Mode off; you reach it through the AI Mode button, google.com/ai, or the Google app, and you can delete its history (Google Search Help, 2026). For AI Overviews, Google says the feature cannot be turned off, but the Web filter shows results without it (Google Search Help, 2026).
Can You Turn Off AI Mode in Google?
Not with a documented setting. Google's AI Mode page covers how to access it, how to delete AI Mode history, and personalization settings, and lists no off switch (Google Search Help, 2026). AI Mode is a separate way to search that you open on purpose, so avoiding it generally means not choosing it.
How Do You Turn Off AI Overviews?
Google states that AI Overviews are a core Search feature, like knowledge panels, and cannot be turned off. It points to the Web filter instead: after a search, select Web to see text-based links without features like AI Overviews (Google Search Help, 2026).
- Search as usual on google.com.
- In the filter bar under the search box, select Web.
- You will see a list of links without AI Overviews (Google Search Help, 2026).
What About Search Labs and Other Workarounds?
Third-party guides describe a Search Labs toggle, adding the parameter udm=14 to a search URL, or browser extensions that hide AI Overviews. Link-Assistant notes that Google has not released a single universal off switch and that none of these methods is perfect or permanent (Link-Assistant, 2026). We could not confirm the Search Labs toggle on Google's own help pages, so treat it as unverified.
What Does AI Mode Mean for Your Business?
You can switch off what you see, but not what your customers see. Some of your buyers will ask AI Mode or an AI Overview who to hire. Those answers name some businesses and skip others, and the businesses named are the ones with clear, consistent, well-supported information the system can retrieve. Hiding AI answers from your own screen does nothing for that.
What Should a Local Business Do About It?
- Search your main service plus your town in AI Mode and note who is named and why.
- Make sure your Google Business Profile, website, and listings say the same thing about services and areas.
- Put a direct, specific answer to each common customer question on your site.
- Keep reviews current; they are evidence a business is real and well regarded.
- Run a free check at /ai-visibility-audit to see whether ChatGPT names you today.