You can’t ignore Google Zero anymore

The long-standing deal between Google and websites—Google indexes content in exchange for traffic—is effectively dead, according to The Vergecast, forcing the web to reckon with the consequences of 'Google Zero.' Reddit is considering cutting ties with an AI training deal as traffic drops, and publishers are exploring blocking Google from crawling their sites entirely.

The web and Google once had a deal /24067997/robots-txt-ai-text-file-web-crawlers-spiders : Google collects data and indexes webpages and in exchange sends oceans of traffic to websites. The deal wasn’t perfect and certainly made Google more money than it made the websites, but it worked for a long time. Now, however, the deal seems to be dead https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/20/technology/google-ai-open-web.html?unlocked article code=1.zVA.L7zf. L5VDoBJCS4f&smid=url-share . And the web is being forced to reckon with what happens when the Google traffic dries up. You can’t ignore Google Zero anymore On The Vergecast: Google vs. websites, OpenAI vs. Hugging Face, and Ford’s deal with Apple Maps. On The Vergecast: Google vs. websites, OpenAI vs. Hugging Face, and Ford’s deal with Apple Maps. On this episode of The Vergecast https://pod.link/vergecast , David and Nilay talk about the week’s Google Zero news, including Reddit’s interest in getting out of an AI training deal /ai-artificial-intelligence/969104/reddit-might-cut-ties-with-google-as-traffic-drops , and the publishers considering blocking Google from crawling their sites altogether. Nilay also takes a bit of a victory lap on the whole “Google Zero” term, but only a short one. Even Google’s Search business is feeling the AI crunch https://s206.q4cdn.com/479360582/files/doc financials/2026/q2/2026q2-alphabet-earnings-release.pdf , and it’s anyone’s guess what happens next. After that, it’s time for some AI news, including questions on how much to panic about OpenAI accidentally hacking Hugging Face /ai-artificial-intelligence/968988/openai-hugging-face-hack-ai , and the many /ai-artificial-intelligence/968855/substack-pangram-ai-detecting-tool dubious /tech/968680/meta-ai-detection-labeling-content-seal-watermarks-synthid AI detector systems coming to platforms near you. We also have a Hype Desk, an episode of Brendan Carr is a Dummy, some news on an Apple payment plan /tech/968750/apple-upgrade-program , a new minimalist phone /gadgets/968563/light-flip-phone-price-specs , and a special guest appearance to talk about Ford and Apple Maps /transportation/969919/ford-apple-maps-bluecruise-driver-assist . Watch https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL39u5ZEfYDEO5PaNRWyqloGY6zzJ1fjBa | Listen https://bit.ly/3hkwRl2 | Get ad-free /bulletin/795051/verge-podcast-ad-free-set-up-how-to In case you missed it this week: We also talked about the state of the US / China AI race /podcast/968286/us-china-ai-race-vergecast , the rise of the EV golf cart /podcast/968863/ev-golf-carts-future-vergecast , all of Samsung’s new foldables /podcast/969231/samsung-unpacked-2026-vergecast-livestream , and the end of reading /tech/970369/why-read-anymore . And we want to hear all your thoughts about all of it Call the Vergecast Hotline at 866-VERGE11, send us an email at vergecast@theverge.com, and tell us everything that’s on your mind. And make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss an episode Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.