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Google Hasn’t Figured This One Thing Out Yet.
And I’m not sure it even can.
Two years ago I wrote a series of posts exploring the business model and interface implications of generative AI-based search. At the time, it was not clear how Google would respond to the existential threat that ChatGPT and its peers seemed to present. If it took root, a chat-like interface to search would fundamentally disrupt Google’s core revenue model. What was the company going to do about that?
I noted that six months into the GPT revolution, Google’s response seemed to be overly cautious. I encouraged the famously slow-moving company to go on offense: “It’s time to push something out to market, it’s time to declare yourself the leader in this new market, and it’s time to lay out a vision for what the future of computing will look like,” I wrote. “Imagine if they had waited until they figured out how to make money before launching Google Search?”
Since I wrote that post, Google embarked on what Wired called a “two year frenzy” of “catching up with OpenAI.” The company launched a broadside of AI products, lapped its competitors in most AI-related benchmarks, integrated AI into nearly everything it does, and in the process, doubled its stock price.
But .. has Google really caught up? I’m afraid the answer is “yes…and no.” Which less…
