Google CEO Sundar Pichai has responded to mounting criticism from news publishers who claim the company’s new AI-powered search feature, AI Overviews , is hurting their businesses. At the same time, Pichai issued an open challenge to rival companies that say they’re more committed to driving traffic back to the open web.
In an interview with The Verge, Pichai responded to concerns that AI Overviews (and the upcoming AI Mode), which provide quick, AI-generated summaries at the top of search results, are reducing clicks to external websites.
Pichai defended Google's approach, stating, "AI mode is gonna have sources. I think part of why people come to Google is to experience that breadth of the web and go in the direction they want to."
While acknowledging that individual publishers might experience variations in traffic, Pichai maintained that the overall trend points to growth. He also disputed claims by Apple senior vice president of services, Eddy Cue, that Apple saw a decline in Safari search volumes for the first time in 22 years.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai's challenge to upcoming companies
Pichai also issued a challenge to other companies in the Search space on "sending traffic to the web".
"I would challenge, I think more than any other company, we think about, we prioritise sending traffic to the web. No one sends traffic to the web in the way we do," he said.
"I look at other companies, newer emerging companies, they openly talk about it as something they're not going to do, right? We are the only ones which make it a high priority," he claimed, seemingly taking a jibe at Perplexity and OpenAI .
Notably, in a Reddit AMA earlier this year, Perplexity AI CEO Aravind Srinivas reportedly remarked, “Google have had two years to kill Perplexity and haven’t,” implying the Search giant's slow pivot to AI-powered search has provided an opportunity for players like Perplexity to thrive.
Similarly, Earlier this year, OpenAI made ChatGPT 's search feature available to everyone. In a candid remark, Altman signaled ambition about OpenAI's position in the AI race.
“man, still a long way to go to run down google 🥺,” he said, referring to the data shared by web analytics company Similarweb which claimed that “ChatGPT reaches its highest ranking yet.” The data showed Google is at the top spot with ChatGPT on the 6th position.
In an interview with The Verge, Pichai responded to concerns that AI Overviews (and the upcoming AI Mode), which provide quick, AI-generated summaries at the top of search results, are reducing clicks to external websites.
Pichai defended Google's approach, stating, "AI mode is gonna have sources. I think part of why people come to Google is to experience that breadth of the web and go in the direction they want to."
While acknowledging that individual publishers might experience variations in traffic, Pichai maintained that the overall trend points to growth. He also disputed claims by Apple senior vice president of services, Eddy Cue, that Apple saw a decline in Safari search volumes for the first time in 22 years.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai's challenge to upcoming companies
Pichai also issued a challenge to other companies in the Search space on "sending traffic to the web".
"I would challenge, I think more than any other company, we think about, we prioritise sending traffic to the web. No one sends traffic to the web in the way we do," he said.
"I look at other companies, newer emerging companies, they openly talk about it as something they're not going to do, right? We are the only ones which make it a high priority," he claimed, seemingly taking a jibe at Perplexity and OpenAI .
Notably, in a Reddit AMA earlier this year, Perplexity AI CEO Aravind Srinivas reportedly remarked, “Google have had two years to kill Perplexity and haven’t,” implying the Search giant's slow pivot to AI-powered search has provided an opportunity for players like Perplexity to thrive.
Similarly, Earlier this year, OpenAI made ChatGPT 's search feature available to everyone. In a candid remark, Altman signaled ambition about OpenAI's position in the AI race.
“man, still a long way to go to run down google 🥺,” he said, referring to the data shared by web analytics company Similarweb which claimed that “ChatGPT reaches its highest ranking yet.” The data showed Google is at the top spot with ChatGPT on the 6th position.
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