If this only happened once it may be a coincidence.

If you did in any way visit another page with this term then it is still possible for Google to embed trackers in pages and use your IP and fingerprinting techniques to gather data and use it for recommendations. Note that using a VPN and cromite does not prevent all means of fingerprinting. But if you did not visit any pages other than the search engine then either that privacy-focused search engine is sharing your searches with Google or it was a coincidence.

The “researchers” in no way demonstrate that “AI” replaced any of the jobs lost. They don’t even raise the question of whether “AI” is used to discipline labor despite not being much of a productivity aid.

I recommend using pen and paper and then digitizing later, assuming this is for notes. It will help you internalize the lecture or reading better in the moment and the act of digitizing your notes will reinforce your knowledge and provide you with better material for tests.

I think the only digital option that could come close to this would be an e-ink tablet but those kind of suck. Better to spend $50 on paper and pens than $500 on a tablet that isn’t as good for the purpose.