Google executive sees AI search as expansion for web

A Google search executive on Thursday pushed back against fears that its AI-powered search will harm web publishers and its advertising business, calling the technology an “expansionary moment” for the internet.

Speaking at the Reuters NEXT conference in New York, Robby Stein, vice president of product for Google Search, addressed concerns that the company’s efforts to provide more AI-powered features — which deliver direct answers to queries — would reduce traffic to external websites.

“Google sends billions and billions and billions of clicks out every single day, and the outbound clicks are largely stable. So that’s actually not changing,” Stein said, adding that new ways people are searching, such as using their phone cameras or asking long, complex questions, are creating new opportunities. “We think over time that’s expansionary. The pie is growing very, very fast.”

AI TRANSITION LIKENED TO MOBILE MIGRATION

Stein also sought to allay investor concerns that a shift to conversational AI could disrupt Google’s lucrative advertising model. He compared the current transition to the migration from desktop to mobile, saying advertising will evolve to fit the new format.

Ads in an AI chat experience can be “incredibly helpful,” he said, citing an example of a user with a raccoon problem being offered relevant products.

Stein’s comments came as reports emerged that rival OpenAI had declared a “code red” to improve ChatGPT amid growing competition from Google. The tech giant Alphabet has appeared to wave off early threats to its core business with more diverse experiences, frontier model launches and viral products such as its photo-generation tool Nano Banana. Shares of Google have risen nearly 67% this year, fueled by growth in its cloud unit.

Stein’s remarks counter a growing narrative from media organizations that AI will decimate their traffic and revenue, while also reassuring Wall Street that Google’s core cash-generating machine is not at risk as it revamps its flagship product.

“Google cares about the web more than anyone,” Stein said, describing AI as a “powerful discovery engine” that will help users go deeper by linking out to sources.

When asked whether Google felt “unshackled” to innovate following a U.S. antitrust ruling that allows Google to keep its Chrome browser, Stein downplayed the case’s impact. “The model’s capability is the thing that’s driving the innovation and the excitement,” he said.

Google’s push into generative AI for its search engine, which followed a clumsy start in 2023, has met with alarm from the publishing industry. Several media leaders have warned of a sharp decline in referral traffic, a fear backed by a Pew Research study this year that found AI summaries made people less likely to click on source links.