AI Search WILL HAVE A HUGE IMPACT ON GOOGLE AND BRANDS
For many people, Google’s search engine serves as the front door to the internet. And search is big business for Google: More than half of its total revenue in 2022 ($162.45 billion) came from search ads. However, thanks to artificial intelligence, this formula may now be changing.
Gradually, consumers are moving from a keyword-driven search experience where they are presented with a series of ads to click, to a conversational interaction using a search bot powered by a large language model. Such a turning point could have profound impacts on Google’s core business.
Google knows this and is developing its own AI search function called Search Generative Experience (SGE). SGE was announced last May and until now was only available as an “experiment” for users to try. But Jim Yu, founder of SEO firm BrightEdge, says SGE will likely become a permanent fixture on Google’s search page for all users. It will be triggered by certain types of keyword searches and will appear alongside the ads and links we are used to seeing on the results page.
This could have big implications for brands that rely on Google ads to find new customers. For example, when a customer searches for “best midsize cars,” SGE will offer a descriptive summary of their findings, four or five car examples, pros and cons of each car, and even some review pieces. about cars. Yu says this suite of results is probably more useful to someone looking for a car than a list of links, but it’s also pretty opinionated (e.g. saying a particular car is harder to maintain). Yu adds that if you’re the brand, you may wonder why you’re spending tens of thousands of dollars on online advertising when Google’s search results are discouraging potential customers from buying your product.
He says it will be important for a company’s various marketing groups, including those managing paid search, organic search, location search, reputation and reviews, to work together to manage the brand’s visible image in AI-powered search.
“How do I manage in this new world where all these different aspects of my digital presence are interconnected while running different campaigns?” Yu says. “They kind of talk to each other today, but they don’t really talk to each other; “These are not really planned, and that will change.”
Artificial Intelligence Is Called a Crucial Factor in the Time of Doomsday Clock
The Doomsday Clock will remain at 90 seconds until midnight, the same as last year, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists said Tuesday. However, this year was the first time that generative artificial intelligence was mentioned as one of the biggest global dangers. (As usual, the Bulletin’s board members say that nuclear weapons are the biggest existential threat, with biological weapons and climate change close behind.)
The interesting thing about AI in this context is that the technology can act as a contributing factor to other major threats. For example, someone might ask an AI chatbot to provide detailed instructions on how to design a bioweapon, says Herb Lin, a fellow at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and a senior research fellow in cyber policy and security at the Hoover Institution at Stanford. University.
But Lin also worries about AI’s capacity to “pollute the information landscape” with so much produced content that it’s impossible to distinguish between reliable, human-written truth and machine-written misinformation. “I personally believe that the threat from artificial intelligence to the information space is in fact an existential threat, but the Bulletin has not officially adopted this position.”
AI GOVERNANCE HAD A SUNNY DAY IN DAVOS
Artificial intelligence has been a big topic at Davos in the past, but this year the term seems to be popping up everywhere and competing with the wars in Ukraine and Gaza for top billing. Numerous panels, keynotes and workshops at the World Economic Forum’s annual event in the Alps focused on how governments and the private sector can work together to manage the many risks of artificial intelligence. Accenture CEO Julie Sweet even personally led AI management workshops for senior executives.
Navrina Singh, founder and CEO of cloud-based AI management platform CredoAI, says she is impressed by the highest bill given to AI management this year. “There was a movement to take action and become operational this year, compared to last year or 2022,” says Singh, who has spoken on the issue several times in Davos.