Google CEO Pichai now calls links a "part" of search, redefining the web's role in its own product

Sundar Pichai said links and sources are becoming features of Google search, not its foundation, as AI answers take center stage.

Google is adding tools like preferred sources and in-chat website views that keep users inside its interface instead of sending them to the open web.

The shift could give Google more control over which publishers are surfaced, while reducing visibility and traffic for external sites.

It also raises broader questions about how people discover information online as search becomes more of an answer engine than a gateway to the web.