Google is launching a new feature! Soon, you will see an ‘’AI Mode’’ in the search engine of Google, which will be useful for users so that they can receive more complete answers. This mode is considered to be promising in the way we interact with the web, and it’s already been implemented in the United States.
Google is increasingly incorporating AI (artificial intelligence) on their new features. For now, this ”AI Mode” is optional, but it is estimated it will be the main way to use Google in the future. So, let’s see what this mode is all about.
How the internet has worked all this time
For many years, the internet has depended on a tacit agreement in which websites allowed search engines like Google to access their content, in exchange websites receive views that make them earn money through publicity, sales and subscriptions. This way is how millions of websites (media, blogs, forum, etc) economically survive.
It is estimated 90% of online searches are done by using Google, which makes it the main search engine of this system. So, if Google stops sending so many views to these websites due to the new ‘’AI Mode’’, most of these websites could lose their income and end up closing.
‘’AI Mode’’
Before this mode, there was a feature called ‘’AI Summarization’’ to give users short answers with visible links. However, the new ‘’AI Mode’’ is on another level because it completely substitutes traditional results for a summary generated by AI. This means users will directly receive a structured answer written by a chatbot, with no need of clicking other sites.
This is an improved experience for users, but not so much for content creators who won’t receive any views. So, here is the risk of websites disappearing.
Uncertainty for content creators
This easy way users will have now when searching for information, will be the end for the original website. Why? Because Google’s interface will directly give the user the answer. So, the original websites will have less publicity income, less visibility and less motivation to produce quality content, as logical.
SEO and digital marketing experts confirm this situation could lead to a drastic reduction of sources diversity. Recent estimations show up to 60% of Google searches don’t end up in clicks and with the full functioning of the ‘’AI Mode’’ this could reach even higher numbers.
Google’s take on this
Google sticks with the idea of the ‘’AI Mode’’ not being created to replace web content, but to improve users’ experience and give them a new way of interacting with information. Concerning the number of clicks, the company confirms there are still billions of clicks on websites everyday.
In addition, Google insists on the fact that web content has increased in the last years and the new AI tools could help them to be found in a more intelligent way.
Automated websites
There’s a huge concern on where this evolution is leading us: contents created, organized and consumed by artificial intelligence systems. Humans are in second place, therefore, instead of exploring and comparing different sources, users would only trust in a unique automated answer.
So, having all of this in mind, we can see and experience the presence of AI everywhere. Google is launching the ‘’AI Mode’’ and it could mean the beginning of a new era in the history of the internet. Users won’t have the same curiosity when searching for information because they will be directly given an automated answer all the time, so why bother clicking other websites?
There’s nothing 100% sure, but the possible impact we have mentioned is getting more present with the passage of time.