“Alexa, how many goals has Cristiano Ronaldo scored for Manchester United?” asked the user.
The voice replied, “Cristiano Ronaldo played 346 games for Manchester United between 2003 and 2009 scoring a total of 145 goals.”
Compare this instant reply to a traditional search engine, and we know where the future of search business is headed.
A user types keywords “number of goals Cristiano Ronaldo for Man U”. Within microseconds, a list of web links appears with a detailed career track record and statistics table. The user clicks on one of the links and painstakingly scrolls the page looking for the exact number. In case of simple queries like goals scored or runs made, the search is easy. Often the search queries are complex than obtaining statistics of star players. It’s messier when numerous websites have conflicting accounts or nuanced opinions about a historic fact or controversial news. Google search engine bypasses this problem by effectively filtering the most credible sources and placing those results at the top of the page. The search rankings created a pecking order in the internet world. Still, it failed to reduce manual work or reading time of the users. No wonder, the search engine giant Google has shifted to an AI Overview that mimics the instant response of Alexa and Siri or LLM’s like Chat GPT and Grok.
Ask Llama whether it’s true that regular fasting is good for cancer and it immediately responds in the affirmative. Follow up with a question about the credibility and it provides 3-4 research paper citations and also names the University of South California’s study concluding that fasting can make cancer cells more sensitive to chemotherapy and protect normal cells. In contrast to the homework and extended reading that search engines provide, LLM’s are short, crisp and pointed in their response even though they are as likely as search engines to show up inaccurate responses. The convenience of LLM’s over search results are undeniable because it saves a few clicks and reading effort particularly for those looking for instant response over long-winded descriptions.
The Business model of search engines
Search engines operate on a business model wherein their service is free for the internet users. The primary source of revenue is advertisement – generating cash flow by selling ad space on its search results. The “Sponsored Ads” atop the regular search results is the spot sold by search engines to businesses that want to attract clicks and eyeballs to their website. The pay-per-click (PPC) model earns money only when the user clicks on the promoted content. The Big Techs in the search business are therefore capable of increasing their profits by displaying ads that appeal to the individual users thus enhancing the probability of a click. Collecting user data enables search engines to determine appealing content and provide personalized custom ads than generic content. Unsurprisingly, Search engine giants have been accused of privacy violations over the past 15 years because the free model is in reality funded by the value of personal information of users for running personalised marketing campaigns. As revenues are tied to number of clicks or click-through-rate, there is incentive for search engine companies to invade privacy of the users and provide clickworthy ads based on age group, search history, demography and tastes of the internet users. Even family background and personal information aren’t off limits for trillion dollar companies whose algorithms manipulate human beings into clicking their Ads.
With the rise of AI LLM’s the business model of search engines are facing disruption. Targeted ads cannot be displayed if users shift from time consuming internet search to Chat GPT, Llama or Grok. The digital advertising model cannot be sustained if the user data cannot be utilized for income generation. AI giants like Open AI, Grok and Meta are fast chipping into the market share of search engine industry. Billions of dollars are being spent on GPU’s and advanced AI that can generate Ghibli studio image, analyze an X-ray report or assist coders in doing their jobs. The free internet model of search engine is shifting to a free model of AI Chatbots without a corresponding source of revenue.
The users of search engines are slowly shifting to AI LLM’s for their information needs. The users themselves are uploading images to convert it into Ghibli studio style. Users are sharing their psychological and personal tastes in the form of search query while interacting with the Chatbots. Each internet user is leaving a digital trail for the AI giants of future. The user fails to recognize that nothing in the world comes for free including AI models, search engines or social media usage. If you are not paying for the product, you are the product. It’s only a matter of time before AI Chatbots shift to a payable model or create their version of personalized ads to keep the billion dollar GPU’s running.
Conclusion
Governments across the world are coming to terms with the rapid growth of AI. While the private sector makes giant strides in training AI models, the public sector isn’t quick enough to regulate the blooming technology. Unless sensitive personal information are brought under the ambit of strict privacy laws, the internet will soon become a free for all where Big Tech misuse their monopolistic position to invade the lives of internet users. The world is set to witness a repeat of similar privacy breaches by AI companies that were earlier attributed to search engine giants. The search business is ending and the era of LLM search is here.
