MARILYN CORNWELL: Marilyn's Photos - May 22 2026

I've been using online search engines since the 1975 - when I took a Master's Degree in Library and Information Science.

Today my search is to remove AI functionality and not gain more functionality. In the 1970s search engines were equipped with boolean operators and nested searches, making sophisticated searches possible. I worked for the Globe and Mail's Online Division when full-text searching became functional - enlarging the retrieval capabilities significantly. These were exciting times.

We've drifted backwards, though. One dilemma now is that retrieval happens within the context of shopping, sponsored content, and advertising. AI seems to take centre-stage, eliminating retrievals based on keywords and charging ahead with some strange references for its answers. And one day this week, I put in a search term and Google's AI thought I was having a conversation with it. I couldn't shake it off.

So today I switched to DuckDuckGo and turned off AI. Then I went looking for jokes about AI's faulty instructions. Examples are how to use gasoline in a spaghetti recipe, how to glue your cheese to the pizza, how many rocks to eat a day show up. It gave advice on how a person can reach 500 words per minute typing. The Guinness Record for fastest typing speed is 305 words per minute achieved by MythicalRocket in 2024 so it is ironic at best that AI would give advice. Here's how it starts:

"While reaching 500 words per minute (WPM) is incredibly challenging and surpasses the capabilities of most professional typists...

As I take a look at the results, i realize that the "Search Assist" had popped back on in DuckDuckGo. Is this what we can expect in the future? To be over-ruled by the AI overlords. I guess I will have to try out a few more search engines that promise no AI.

This is the Wisteria at the corner house - this picture is from 2022 when it was an amazing show.