The post-search Google era begins

# The post-search Google era begins Source: [https://www.theverge.com/podcast/936037/google-io-2026-search-agents-vergecast](https://www.theverge.com/podcast/936037/google-io-2026-search-agents-vergecast) On The Vergecast: The AI will Google for you now, the Trump Phone is real, and SpaceX is SpaceT\-Mobile\. On The Vergecast: The AI will Google for you now, the Trump Phone is real, and SpaceX is SpaceT\-Mobile\. by May 22, 2026, 1:47 PM UTC [](https://www.theverge.com/authors/david-pierce) David Pierce is editor\-at\-large and Vergecast co\-host with over a decade of experience covering consumer tech\. Previously, at Protocol, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired\. 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](https://www.theverge.com/tech/934217/google-search-box-does-everything-ai-io-2026)? 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? [](https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/Vergecast-Tile-Large.jpeg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,0,100,100) *Verge*subscribers, don’t forget you get exclusive access to ad\-free*Vergecast*wherever you get your podcasts\. Head[here](https://www.theverge.com/account/podcasts)\. Not a subscriber? You can[sign up here](https://www.theverge.com/subscribe)\. These are the heady questions we get to in[this episode of*The Vergecast*](https://pod.link/vergecast)*\.*But first, we have some news to talk about\. There’s[the corporate news](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/20/business/media/vox-media-james-murdoch-sale.html)— 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](https://www.theverge.com/policy/934996/the-fcc-voted-to-streamline-tracking-us-broadband-quality), and the latest on the[SpaceX IPO](https://www.theverge.com/science/935102/spacex-ipo-elon-musk-tesla-cybertruck-xai-risk-factor), the[Trump Phone](https://www.theverge.com/gadgets/933202/nbc-just-got-the-trump-phone), and the social media industry’s[spectacularly](https://www.theverge.com/entertainment/935390/spotify-studio-ai-app-personal-podcasts)confusing[approach](https://www.theverge.com/tech/934704/google-gemini-omni-youtub-shorts-remix-ai)to AI\. If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started: **Follow topics and authors**from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates\. - David Pierce ## The Verge Daily A free daily digest of the news that matters most\.