Tuesday, November 5, 2024

AI could transform internet search. Even Google is disrupting its own kingdom.

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Some 99,000 times a second, people around the world use Google to search the Internet. 

Now, however, the dominance of Google and its parent company, Alphabet, is under attack. The outcome may determine how people search for information online.

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By rolling out AI Overview, Google is in effect competing with its own internet search results. This comes as lawsuits and AI rivals threaten Google’s dominance.

Alphabet’s immediate challenge is legal. The Justice Department, which finished closing arguments this month in its first case against the company, has charged Alphabet with illegally paying companies to ensure its Google search engine is the default on smartphones and web browsers. A second antitrust trial about Alphabet’s ad practices looms this fall. 

The longer-term threat is technological. Some analysts suggest that artificial intelligence (AI) will erode Google’s dominance in search. That’s not a foregone conclusion for the $2.2 trillion company. But the twin threats put Alphabet in an awkward position.

At a time when increased government scrutiny might tempt Google to slow or curb its most aggressive moves, the rapid development of AI is forcing the company to move fast. 

“There’s an AI arms race,” says Chris Rodgers, founder and CEO of Colorado-based CSP, a company that helps businesses get noticed on the Internet. “It is going to drive big changes in search.” 

Some 99,000 times a second, people use a single company’s technology to search the Internet. It’s so commonplace that computer users don’t call it a “search.’’ They “Google” – or “googlear” (Spanish) or “Googul” (Arabic) – a topic. 

Now, however, the dominance of Google and its parent company, Alphabet, is under attack. Legally and technologically, the company that has easily beat back challengers since its founding in 1998, faces perhaps its biggest threat yet. And the outcome may determine how people search for information online.

Alphabet’s immediate challenge is legal. This month, the Justice Department wrapped up its case with a closing argument that Alphabet illegally paid other companies to ensure its Google search engine would be the default option on the iPhone and other smartphones and web browsers. A second antitrust trial about Alphabet’s ad practices looms this fall. 

Why We Wrote This

A story focused on

By rolling out AI Overview, Google is in effect competing with its own internet search results. This comes as lawsuits and AI rivals threaten Google’s dominance.

AI may spur rapid change in search

The longer-term threat is technological. For the better part of a year, analysts have suggested that artificial intelligence (AI) will erode Google’s search dominance. But that’s not a foregone conclusion for the hugely profitable $2.2 trillion company.

Still, the twin legal threats put Alphabet in an awkward position. At a time when increased government scrutiny might tempt Google to slow or curb aggressive moves, the rapid development of AI is forcing the company to move fast. To keep up with competitors, management may have to run, not walk, on the eggshells of legal risk.

“There’s an AI arms race,” says Chris Rodgers, founder and CEO of Colorado-based CSP, a company that helps businesses get noticed on the Internet. “It is going to drive big changes in search.”

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