Following on May 23's look at what's coming, Google's Search Revolution: "Call My Agentic!".
From The Telegraph, May 24:
The tech giant’s new AI summary feature threatens to disrupt industries reliant on search traffic
Many people regret appearing in Playboy in their youth. Google’s two co-founders might be an unlikely addition to this group.
In 2004, Larry Page and Sergey Brin gave an extensive interview to the magazine that threatened to derail the search engine’s Nasdaq initial public offering, disrupting a pre-flotation “quiet period” in which executives are meant to stay silent.
Ultimately, the storm passed. But Page’s comments during the interview have since hung over the company.
“We want to get you out of Google and to the right place as fast as possible,” Page said.
At the time, Google was known for its “10 blue links”. The company prided itself on a slick, uncluttered interface that produced better search results than its myriad rivals, which at the time were attempting to stuff search results with their own services.
“Most portals show their own content above content elsewhere on the web,” Page said. “We feel that’s a conflict of interest, analogous to taking money for search results.”
Today, critics say this philosophy has been dropped. No Google search only features 10 blue links, and Google’s own services, from shopping to YouTube videos, feature prominently at the top of its results.
Increasingly, the company’s “AI overviews” and more detailed “AI mode”, both generated by artificial intelligence, answer questions without the user needing to leave the page.
The company took the latest step down this path last week. Google will allow users to ask follow-up questions of its AI overviews, which may further reduce the incentive to click through to websites. Search results will also allow people to build mini-apps and “agents” that can scour the web on your behalf, booking restaurants or hotel rooms on your behalf.
“We’re entering the era of search agents,” Elizabeth Reid, the head of Google search, said.
Critics believe we are approaching “Google Zero”: a future in which Google stops sending users to external websites and instead keeps them on its site indefinitely....
....‘Devastating’ effect on trafficReach, the owner of the Mirror, Express and dozens of regional titles whose unrelenting hunt for digital attention has triggered repeated accusations of clickbait, is among the biggest victims. In March, the company slumped to its largest loss in a decade, warning of a sharp decline in referrals from Google.
All About Berlin, an English-language online guide to the German capital, said the launch of Google’s AI overviews had had a “devastating” effect on traffic.
“It’s hard to fund my work with 70pc fewer visitors,” Nicolas Bouliane, the website’s owner, wrote on X. “In another year, it will be impossible. Instead of writing new guides, I spend my days preparing for that future.”....
....Threat of a disruptive new feature
The company’s latest features, unveiled last week, do more than just summarise information. Google’s “search agents”, a feature that will be available only to paying subscribers at first, will be able to repeatedly search the web on your behalf, for example, monitoring property websites for flats to rent or checking online shops for new trainers.
“You could be asleep, and it’s still helping you,” Robby Stein, a Google executive, told Wired.
This threatens to disrupt whole industries that rely on Google. If agents, not humans, are now going to be the ones that browse the web, anything that relies on attracting eyeballs is in trouble....
....MUCH MORE
Also at The Telegraph:
Cut-throat Google has corrupted the web
