Google’s recent announcement at this year’s Google I/O event that its dominant search engine is set to become an Agentic AI has created a huge stir, with some pundits labelling it the worst thing to happen to the internet since social media.
One thing is for certain: the upcoming transition from Google Search to Google AI search will change the internet forever, and not in a good way.
The pages of blue links leading to websites that we’re all familiar with will become a thing of the past as Google’s AI tells users what it thinks they need to know, rather than directing them to the relevant websites.
This change is potentially disastrous for the vast majority of websites that rely on advertising as their sole source of revenue. Ad revenue has decreased substantially over the past few years, initially impacted by the massive uptake of ad-blockers, and more recently by the advent of AI summaries in search results.
Visits via search engine results have always provided the bread and butter of ad revenue, and when that is gone… well, it doesn’t bear thinking about.
DuckDuckGo Reaps The Benefit
To underline the general feeling toward AI among users, a spokesperson from DuckDuckGo reported a 37% rise in its browser installations immediately following Google’s announcement, with an even steeper rise of 69% browser installs on iOS.
Beyond the jump in installations, the DuckDuckGo representative also reported a 500% increase in mentions of the company across all social media platforms, including TikTok, Instagram, Reddit, and X, among others.
I wonder when the likes of Google and Microsoft will realize that the general PC-using public is nowhere near as enthralled with AI as these companies appear to be.
BOTTOM LINE:
This change to Agentic AI search begs one major question: where will AI pull its information from once hundreds of websites can no longer afford to continue operating and are forced to close down?
Imagine the scenario; you ask Google AI search for help building a new PC and are presented with extracts from an 8-year-old Reddit post by someone who perhaps has the computer savvy to provide such advice.
It is a worry.
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