I think it's part of the core, but I haven't tried to disable it before; that may be possible.

However, it is dependent upon the search query: https://www.google.com/search?q=flat+earth doesn't show it, for example.

Perhaps only queries in the form of a question show it.

But yes, it is a piece of shit and they should get rid of it if they aren't going to curate the kind of content that can get put in those boxes.