Google plans to make it easier for users to access AI mode by allowing them to set it as the default, replacing the traditional blue links.

AI mode is an advanced version of Google Search that uses large language models to summarise information from the web, so you can spend more time on Google than visiting websites.

Google AI mode can answer complex answers, process images, summarize information on the web, create tables, graphs, charts, and even help you code.

Right now, AI mode is optional. It’s placed on the left of the “All” tab, so you can accidentally open Google AI search and slowly prefer it over the traditional search.

In a post on X, Logan Kilpatrick, who is the product lead at Google AI Studio, suggested that AI mode would soon become the default mode on Google.

Later, Google’s Robby Stein, VP, Product at Google Search, clarified that the company only plans to make it easier to access AI mode for those who wish to use it.

Right now, there are no plans to make AI mode the default for everyone, but if you prefer AI mode as your default search tab, there will be a toggle or a button to do that.

This would mean the traditional blue links will not appear by default, but you’ll be able to switch to old results by finding the “Web” tab, which is tucked at the very end of the bar.

AI Mode might become the default mode at some point in future, but when?

I wouldn’t be surprised if AI mode does become the default search page in 2026 for everyone.

Google is still trying to determine how a move like that would affect its ad business.

Google is already testing ads in AI mode and AI Overviews and is pitching AI ad practices to ad partners.

The digital marketing industry is unsure how things will play out when blue links are replaced entirely with AI mode.

Google has about 90% of the search market share and continues to send billions of clicks to publishers across the world.

At the same time, Google does not pay publishers and independent blogs for summarising content.

Instead, the search engine giant claims that the AI summaries send more “quality” clicks to publishers, but it does not have data to back the claim.

Independent research by Pew suggests that fewer people are likely to click on a web result when the search engine shows an AI summary.

Some independent publishers are also discussing creating a “NATO for News” alliance to fight the existential crisis.

President Donald Trump signed an order on Aug. 7 allowing crypto in 401(k) plans, subject to agency rulemaking.

The directive tells the Labor Department, the SEC, and Treasury to revisit constraints on plan menus, opening the door for defined contribution plans to add sleeves tied to Bitcoin and ether through pooled vehicles.

The focus now is on the size of the default crypto allocations and the number of plans that implement them, since those factors will determine actual investment flows more than the policy announcement itself.

According to the Investment Company Institute, defined contribution (DC) assets stood at $12.2 trillion on March 31, with $8.7 trillion in 401(k)s. That base means even a 0.10% default inside qualified default investment alternatives, such as target date funds or collective investment trusts, would theoretically amount to $12.2 billion if adopted across the DC universe.

A quarter of plans deploying a 0.25% sleeve would equate to roughly $7.6 billion in structural bids sourced from payroll contributions and employer matches. The size of these modeled flows turns on two levers that plan sponsors control, the default percentage and the share of plans that implement it.

The policy context matters for fiduciaries. On May 28, the Labor Department rescinded its 2022 crypto compliance release that had warned fiduciaries to exercise “extreme care,” removing a key chill around menu design, per the agency’s release. The new order layers on top, instructing staff to craft avenues for access within ERISA rules.

As PLANADVISER reported, the work now shifts to guidance and product plumbing, including how DC plans can hold crypto via regulated wrappers and how recordkeepers map those positions in plan portals.

Distribution will run through defaults, where most dollars live. Target date funds dominate participant flows and house the qualified default for many plans. As MarketWatch reported last month, large managers have already begun adding private-market sleeves to new TDF designs.

That same structure can host a small crypto sleeve inside a diversified glide path, and the paycheck cadence turns that sleeve into a steady primary-market bid for the underlying ETFs that hold spot Bitcoin or Ethereum. The result goes beyond a single surge toward a programmatic flow that arrives on payroll cycles and rebalancing dates.

How much could 401(k)s bring to crypto?

The glide path math frames realistic ranges for 2026. Using ICI’s DC base, a 0.10% default across 10% of assets points to about $1.22 billion of crypto demand. A 0.50% default across 25% of assets points to about $15.3 billion, while a 1.00% default across half the market would reach about $61 billion.

Modeled flows using $12.2T US defined-contribution base; values are theoretical and illustrative.

If sponsors weight sleeves toward Bitcoin at launch, Ethereum still absorbs a measurable share once ETH ETFs are included on platforms, though the split depends on investment policy statements and recordkeeper support. These figures are mechanical translations of defaults and adoption into dollars, not forecasts of market impact.

Risk controls and fees remain core to the debate. Per The Washington Post, proponents view more menu choice as portfolio diversification, while critics warn that valuation, liquidity and costs require careful design for a retirement context. Kiplinger’s overview adds that sponsors may route exposure through managed accounts or TDFs rather than stand-alone options, a choice that centralizes due diligence and participant communication.

For crypto markets, the mechanism matters. If plans fund sleeves through spot ETFs, new contributions translate to primary creations when shares exceed inventory, which feeds through to underlying coin demand via authorized participants.

That transmission channel ties adoption inside DC plans to the ETF primary market rather than secondary swings, which is why the default percentage embedded in TDFs and CITs will matter more than menu headlines.

The next milestones sit with agency guidance, product filings, and recordkeeper integrations, then plan committee updates to investment policy statements. The flows, if implemented, would arrive on a schedule, and the order moves the 401(k) discussion from permissions to allocation math.

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