The internet may be facing a silent crisis - and you might be part of it. With Google’s new AI Overviews, users now see instant AI-generated summaries instead of traditional search links. While this may seem convenient, it's having a major impact on web traffic and content creators.

According to Pew Research, people are almost twice as likely not to click on other links when AI Overviews are shown. Shockingly, 26% even end their search entirely. For many websites that rely on ad revenue, this shift is catastrophic - traffic is down 30% to 70% in some cases.

Experts warn that Google's new AI Mode, which eliminates traditional search results altogether, could break the current internet ecosystem. Content creators are losing both traffic and motivation to create high-quality material, while AI, ironically built on their work, gets all the attention.

Google denies these claims, but even its own AI chatbot, Gemini, admits the damage is real. If people stop clicking and creators stop publishing, the internet as we know it might just disappear - one ghosted link at a time.