The results of Google today really look like Altavista in 1999.
I started using you.com, which looks like Google 10 years ago. You get actual non-SEO-optimized search results on the first page. I‘m sure that will change once more people use it, but at the moment I have a working search engine again.
Google should release whatever that ex-dev was going on about some sentient AI that Google has looked up.
I think Google has enough capital, brand recognition, and customer dependence, that they could get away with missing some of the AI hype train for now.