The tech giant's current AI Mode uses both Gemini AI and real-time search time for direct answers, rather than the list of links people have grown used to.

Lead product manager Logan Kilpatrick has suggested on X that the AI version could soon be the norm.

A user on the social media platform said: "It must be the default. I know it's scary, but one more click means infinity.

"This is Google's Kodak moment. I hope you learned from history books."

Logan simply replied: "Soon :)"

As well as being a tab in Google Search, AI Mode has also been given its own dedicated homepage, which could be a precursor to the "default" move.

This could cause a major shift in how people find things out online, as well as websites relying on Google traffic.

AI Overviews - which can answer users' questions without sending them to another website - have varying degrees of accuracy, but there has already been some declines in readership for publishers as a result of the shift.

However, Google Search vice president Robby Stein has tried to clarify the situation and quash people's concerns about a change in focus.

He wrote on X: "Wouldn’t read too much into this. we’re focusing on making it easy to access AI Mode for those who want it."