this post was submitted on 24 May 2024
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"Normal people", as in 99% of people, will not bother editing the URL... most of them don't even know what a URL is. They'll just keep using whatever search window they get in their "internet" (browser).
However, Google would rather scrapers and people with ad blockers not make them waste money on AI when they can't recoup them.
Honestly. People moved to Google back in the day. If a search engine gets enough traction for being superior, the adoption will start. Slowly first, but it worked before. I see no reason why it wouldn't happen again.
The people that use Google today did not move to Google back then. They came along after Google conquored the browser market.
Just like way back when, "The Internet" was Internet Explorer, today it's Chrome. And until we can convince people to abandon that, then it's an up-a-sheer-cliff battle.
The Internet today is propped up by the people who do not lament that it has turned into 5 websites in a trench coat, but who actively kick up a fit at the idea that it could or should be anything more varied or complicated than that.
AI seems to be the "I don't need to think that much" measure of superiority this year... and sincerely, it's likely here to stay. We will see different AIs with different levels of "no need to think" in different areas, but getting a ready made easy and simple answer, no matter how preposterous, has been the goal for a large part of the population since basically forever.
Disinformation via AI is going to be absurd, especially if Google keeps going down the path of "Here's an AI summary of search results". It's only a matter of time before someone figures out how to manipulate the AI through bad data.
Google has already lost the SEO war and they (supposedly) knew how their algorithms worked. How do they ever expect to control the AI black box?
That's what's really confusing me: why add an expensive feature, that obviously doesn't work and even in the best case adds only minor improvements?
I mean, it's not another option like with Bing. It's the default. Every stupid little search will take up AI resources. For what? Market cap?
Rather market penetration among the gullible, which leads to more ad impressions, which lead to ad income, which leads to market cap.
I bet they have an alternative plan in the back burner to slash that AI the moment they see it reduce ad income in their A/B testing... but right now the AI buzzword is strong in the air, it's 2024's main attractor for the most ad-targetable customers.
They're using it now to train it. Once it gets real good and people like and rely on it, it'll get paywalled.
It won't get paywalled. Instead they will let it get useful then start injecting ads into it once people trust it.
My guess is that google has been losing the public perception of an innovative company, and started to be felt as a big stable and slow moving one instead, and they're trying so desperately to take back the previous public perception. They're seeing the ai hype and the investment microsoft is doing on it. They probably also fear that bing might break their monopoly, and want to fully integrate some ai in their product, to prevent the competition from arising and passing the image of an innovative company.