The post-search Google era begins

Google is many things, but most of the time it’s a verb: It is what it is to search the internet for information. But what if it’s an AI agent doing the searching? And it’s doing it proactively? Without even telling you about it? In the world Google imagines, in which so much of the actual googling happens without your prompting, involvement, or even knowledge, can you even call Google a search engine anymore? [Image: https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/Vergecast-Tile-Large.jpeg?quality=90&strip=all] Verge subscribers, don’t forget you get exclusive access to ad-free Vergecast wherever you get your podcasts. Head here. Not a subscriber? You can sign up here. These are the heady questions we get to in this episode of The Vergecast. But first, we have some news to talk about. There’s the corporate news — which really boils down to “nothing that matters is changing” — and there’s some exciting podcast news. The Vergecast is going daily! Starting June 1st, we’ll be in your feeds five days a week. We’d love to hear all your thoughts, story ideas, feedback, deep-seated fears, and qualms about all of this, so give us a call at 866-VERGE11 or email us at vergecast@theverge.com. Then it’s on to the news of the week. Which is mostly from Google I/O, where Nilay went both to cover the event and to chat with Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Nilay and David discuss all the ways search is changing, why Google seems so confident in its place in the AI ecosystem, and what this all means for the future of the web. And, frankly, whether the web even still has a future. Finally, in the lightning round, it’s time for the Hype Desk, Brendan Carr is a Dummy, and the latest on the SpaceX IPO, the Trump Phone, and the social media industry’s spectacularly confusing approach to AI. Subscribe: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Overcast | Pocket Casts | More If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started: * From The New York Times: James Murdoch Buys Half of Vox Media * The future of Google is a search box that does everything * Google is building a ‘universal’ AI shopping cart that tracks prices, offers suggestions, and finds discounts * Demis Hassabis said this might be the ‘foothills of the singularity.’ What? * Why does the Googlebook exist? * The FCC voted to ‘streamline’ tracking US broadband quality. * In SpaceX’s IPO, Elon Musk is the risk factor * Spotify Studio’s AI agent creates a daily podcast just for you * You can now remix other people’s YouTube Shorts with AI * NBC just got the Trump phone.