AI Search Engines
Search Engines are dead. Long Live Search Engines.
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Friends,
After Yahoo, had its go at categorising the Internet, Google organised it better than anyone can, and for the last 20+ years has enjoyed a monopoly on entry to the world of information and entertainment.
That time is coming to an end.
This year, at the dinner table with the family, I have asked Alexa to help with some information. This is information that, if we didn't have the Internet, I’d have in my brain. Also, I’m getting old. But that’s another story.
We asked Alexa First. Alexa failed.
Because I’m a sucker, I have a Google Home device in the same room. Google also failed.
This has happened a few times. My expectations of search and of a voice interface are high. But neither Alexa nor Google were able to help.
In frustration, I pulled out my phone and asked ChatGPT. We had a 3-minute conversation with Her/Him to understand what we needed. (Latin words, romance language and their origin!)
Our behaviour is changing. Our expectations are changing. Our needs are changing.
And all at time of AI entering the game - or maybe because AI entered the game.
There was a time when intricate search operators would unlock hidden parts of the Internet. (I even remember seeing on someone’s CV, saying he was “good at google”.) We are now in a world where specific prompts are unlocking intelligence. The intelligence I was trying to extract at the dinner table.
In previous years, there used to be a multitude of sites, on any and every subject. But some of those sites no longer exist. Factually, almost 40% of webpages from 2013 no longer exist a decade on. Sites that I had involvement with have all but disappeared. There was a point in 2009 when Yahoo shut down GeoCities - much of that intelligence and knowledge was gone forever. Chris Anderson declared the Web dead in 2010 - and, I believe Google have declared the end of the Web, in how they are now behaving.
For years many well-established websites with valuable content were being overshadowed by Google's preference for SEO-optimised sites. This shift favoured professional SEO companies, leaving original content creators behind, my sites included. The increasing difficulty of being found through Google search has led content creators to migrate to platforms like Substack (it’s why I’m here) and why, as you’ll see (in my recommended links today) that the really valuable content and discussion happen on sites like discord, on your WhatsApp channel and the latest micro social media channel (like Fizz). Small businesses will resort to minimal web presence or rely on social media and Google ads for visibility. Google's algorithm seemed biased towards ad-heavy, monetized sites, benefiting Google's business model but diminishing the visibility of authentic, non-commercial content. Users frequently turn to alternative methods, such as adding 'reddit' to searches, to find genuine opinions and detailed information. I often search my gmail for intelligence from newsletters that came at me when I wasn’t ready.
With more content moving behind paywalls and AI-generated content becoming prevalent, there are concerns about AI sampling from its own outputs, reducing content quality. There's a call for a new search engine model that excludes ads, though the resources required make this unlikely. And unfortunately, Google has been so powerful that it "hides" other search systems from us. We just don't know the existence of most of them or subnets like refseek or WorldCat and other “smart” information, much of which will power new AI models. The heavy reliance on advertising to fund the web is a barrier to accessing genuine knowledge, which has lead to user frustration and ad avoidance strategies.
And so I think this is why this is the start of a shift. Knowledge has now elevated to drive a new reality. Our knowledge is now in the models that we are using, the models that will drive our new decisions.
We saw that this week, with Google’s AI search results are already getting ads. Some are so uncomfortable with this new land grab, they are already looking at workarounds. It was only a matter of time. Sundar Pichai said:
I think the direction of how these things will go, it’s tough to fully predict. Users keep evolving. It’s a more dynamic moment than ever. We are testing all of this, and this is a case where we didn’t trigger the AI Overview because we felt like our AI Overview is not necessarily the first experience we want to provide for that query because what’s underlying is maybe a better first look for the user — those are all quality tradeoffs we are making. But if the user is asking for a summary, we are summarizing and giving links. I think that seems like a reasonable direction to me.
On the one hand, we see Google building a new business model - and I think that will force OpenAI’s hand. We will soon see OpenAI start to play in Search.
The logic behind this is Google is pumping all of its products with AI. AI everywhere. AI Overviews. AI in your docs. AI in your photos. And, in general it will be freeish. Meta are offering Llama as a free LLM alternative detering OpenAI away from this space. OpenAI will attempt to become the gateway to the new Internet or the new search. The shift will be slow - but this is a new battle that OpenAI plays out in new and novel ways through partnerships, through its API and pushing the boundaries with products we didn’t realise we needed.
And I believe OpenAI will go and grab part of Google’s 92% global search domination.
Here’s what we will see:
AI Search Assistants: AI assistants provide a more interactive and engaging search experience. By integrating these into their search platform, OpenAI can make searching more efficient and enjoyable, particularly for complex or conversational queries.
Personalised search: Personalised search results enhance user satisfaction by delivering more relevant content. OpenAI's advanced AI capabilities can outperform Google's personalisation, making users feel that OpenAI understands and caters to their unique needs better. Google already dominates here, but OpenAI can win.
Owning High-Quality Networks of Content: Offering better revenue-sharing models and exclusive benefits to content creators will incentivise high-quality content to be available on OpenAI's platform. This can create a richer content ecosystem, which in turn attracts more users and content creators away from Google.
Multimodality: Users are increasingly consuming content in diverse formats beyond text, such as images, videos, and audio. By providing a multimodal search experience, OpenAI can meet these evolving user needs better than Google, which currently focuses more on text-based search.
Back to simplicity: Users are frustrated with search engine clutter and adverts. Knowing what I know about SEO, I find search results extremely stressful! By offering a cleaner, more intuitive experience, OpenAI can directly address these frustrations and attract users looking for a better alternative.
An interesting 3 years ahead, which will define how we access AI and Search - a synonymity that’s bound to happen - but don’t worry you won’t need to be good at “prompt engineering” or “good at google” - this stuff will be readily available. Open the floodgates.
Stay Curious - and don’t forget to be amazing,
PS. Even Amazon are coming at this game: Amazon is planning to unveil a souped-up version of its decade-old voice assistant this year and will charge a monthly fee, sources say.
Here are my recommendations for this week:
Part of my workflow on consuming and learning information has been ramped up by AI tools. One that I’m using regularly is TubeonAI which creates summaries of videos and podcasts in seconds. If you need to up your lifelong learning to stay ahead of the game, sign up for free and then use code BOXOFAMAZING for a premium discount) Sign up
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