The future of AI search is Google’s to lose
Google's Transformer architecture has paved the way for advancements in AI technology, leading to the creation of powerful chatbots like ChatGPT and Meta AI. OpenAI's innovation with reinforcement learning and dialogue optimizations has significantly impacted the landscape of online information retrieval. Google's AI Mode, a cutting-edge service integrated with Google Search, offers concise and high-quality responses using advanced techniques like query fan-out and agentic reinforcement learning. Despite its strengths, AI Mode may still face challenges such as misinformation and monetization through advertising. As AI continues to evolve, the future of search and advertising will require adaptation and innovation from tech giants like Google.
Google’s current ‘AI Mode’ is a fantastic replacement for old-fashioned Google Search. But can the company monetize it without wrecking things? When Google unveiled a new neural network design in 2017 called the Transformer architecture, it probably had no idea this would threaten Google Search’s dominance within seven years.
The Rise of AI Chatbots
When OpenAI applied Google’s Transformer architecture to generative language models, the GPT was born. (GPT stands for “Generative Pre-trained Transformer.”) OpenAI then took the GPT concept and created a chatbot by incorporating reinforcement learning from human feedback, ranked responses, dialogue optimizations, and safety measures. The result was ChatGPT, which OpenAI made public on Nov. 30, 2022. ChatGPT changed the world.
Now, AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Meta’s Meta AI, Microsoft’s Copilot, Anthropic’s Claude AI, Perplexity AI’s Perplexity, xAI’s Grok, and even Google’s own Gemini are changing how people search for information online. Instead of relying on Google, some users are turning to AI chatbots.
Google’s Response with AI Mode
To stop bleeding users, Google has been planning to integrate its own AI technology into the Google Search Experience for the general public, first with AI Overviews in May 2024, which now reportedly has more than 1 billion users, and more recently with AI Mode (March 2025).
AI Mode is an “experimental” service available to people who signed up for Google Search Labs. It’s based on a customized version of Google’s Gemini 2.0. In its current state, Google’s AI Mode is truly great. It’s better than most comparable chatbots in several respects, especially two very important ones.
Attribution and Brevity
The best feature is that Google surfaces attribution. Just last week, I co-hosted a TWiT podcast about AI called “Intelligent Machines,” where I advocated for RAG-based chatbots (Retrieval-Augmented Generation systems like Perplexity that use data from searches in their results, rather than just the old data in their training datasets) showing their links conspicuously on the right side of the search.
Another surprising AI Mode virtue is brevity. Unlike most AI chatbots, which often provide long-winded explanations, Google’s AI Mode gets right to the point with very concise responses. Results tend to be very high quality.
Future Challenges for Google
When AI Mode becomes the leading search option offered by Google, the rules for SEO and advertising will need to be re-written. Google isn’t exactly sure how it will integrate ads into AI Mode searches. Ultimately, it’s advertising that’s likely to lead AI Mode astray, given how Google Search itself has evolved over time.
So, while AI Mode is a refreshing change from plain old Google Search and clearly one of the best AI chatbots out there, the challenge remains for Google to monetize the feature without compromising the user experience.
How Google can keep making money on search ads in the age of AI, smart glasses, and other trends isn’t yet clear. But changes are coming, and it will be interesting to see how Google navigates the future of AI search and advertising.