> They say AI mode is the most popular feature they've ever introduced, and is driving an increase in total search queries.

Technically, all the people who google "how do I disable this shitty AI mode in google" would count as "driving an increase in total search queries."

An easy way to make a feature popular is to force it on everyone. Then you can pat yourself on the back when 100% of your users are using it!

I remember when Internet Explorer was the most used browser. The fact that people were just using it to download Chrome doesn't matter to stats.