Google on Tuesday unveiled a major overhaul to its flagship search engine that uses AI-generated summaries to displace the links to news stories – a move that threatens to deprive traditional media companies of much-needed revenue.  

The new feature, “dubbed AI Overviews,” will debut in the US this week and provide answers to queries like “How to fix my toilet?” or “What is the best way to clean leather boots” — pushing down the set of links related to the search.

The news Monday that Google is planning to launch an update to its search engine that includes answers generated by artificial intelligence likely has news publishers, content creators and all kinds of destination websites panicking about a traffic collapse. News publishers may find they have plenty of allies in urging Congress to act and joining lawsuits against the Big Tech companies.

Kimber Matherne’s thriving food blog draws millions of visitors each month searching for last-minute dinner ideas.

But the mother of three says decisions made at Google, more than 2,000 miles from her home in the Florida panhandle, are threatening her business. About 40 percent of visits to her blog, Easy Family Recipes, come through the search engine, which has for more than two decades served as the clearinghouse of the internet, sending users to hundreds of millions of websites each day.