Summary: AI that can answer questions is making lists of search results seem quaint. The nature of search is about to change radically, but Google has to protect its ad business. Competitors don’t have that burden.
It sounds ridiculous to say that Google might be displaced. Google has been the 800-pound gorilla for a long time. But AI might disrupt Google.
ChatGPT has changed the nature of “search.” You no longer type a query and get a list of websites to visit. You get an answer.
Once the visitor has an answer to his question, there will be little or no reason to visit any of the links on the search results page. This will cause a big decline in website traffic.
This will also disrupt Google’s ad business. If fewer people are going to web pages, fewer people will be seeing the ads on those pages, which are largely controlled by Google!
Google has a beta version of how they’re going to tackle this. Like ChatGPT, the page provides an answer, but it also provides links. Google’s solution will be constrained by their need to protect their own revenue streams. Competitors won’t be.
It’s very possible Google will be replaced as the dominant player in the new generation of “search,” where people want answers, not a homework assignment.
