How is this any better other than ad free? I rather use a search engine that gives me the sources straight away, instead of a potentially hallucinated answer from multiple sources that I then have to verify anyway to check what the actual answer is.

If you really need to use Google search, try the advanced option of “verbatim” when using web search to show results like it used to, instead of the new method where you get served links based on what Google thinks you’re actually looking for.