Google took the unusual step of issuing a response to news reports that AI search engines and chatbots were causing a decline in traditional search engine use, directly contradicting testimony given by an Apple executive in the ongoing U.S. government antitrust lawsuit against Google.
Apple Testimony That Triggered Stock Sell-Off
Google’s stock price took a steep dive on the news that people were turning away from traditional search engines, dropping by 7.51% on Wednesday. What triggered the stock sell-off was testimony by Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services, who testified that search engine use by users of Apple’s Safari browser declined for the first time last month, expressing his opinion that a technological shift is underway that is undercutting the use of traditional search engines.
Early AI Adopters Turning Away From Google?
There is a view in Silicon Valley that Google Search is legacy technology. A recent episode of the Y Combinator show featured the host sharing that their Google search traffic has dropped by 15% and that he attributes that to AI use in both Google and chatbots. He explained that if you want to see the future you look to the early adopters, commenting that everyone he knows in Silicon Valley uses ChatGPT to get answers and that Google Search is defacto legacy technology.
The host described how 25 years ago the early adopters were using Google but that now, Google Search feels weird to him.
He said:
“People are now switching their behavior to where your default action if you’re looking for information is, you know ChatGPT or perplexity, or one of these things, and even just, you know, observing my own behavior. I’ll use Google mostly for kind of navigational. Like, if I’m just looking for a specific website and I know it’s going to give the same thing, but it’s starting to have that weird kind of, like legacy website, like I’m using eBay or something.”
Google’s Statement
Google’s statement was short and to the point, with no accompanying images to make it look like a blog post. Google’s statement could even be seen as terse.
Here’s what Google published:
“Here’s our statement on this morning’s press reports about Search traffic.
We continue to see overall query growth in Search. That includes an increase in total queries coming from Apple’s devices and platforms. More generally, as we enhance Search with new features, people are seeing that Google Search is more useful for more of their queries — and they’re accessing it for new things and in new ways, whether from browsers or the Google app, using their voice or Google Lens. We’re excited to continue this innovation and look forward to sharing more at Google I/O.”
AI Revolution: What Nobody Else Is Seeing
Here’s the video of the Y Combinator show that offers a peek at how people in Silicon Valley relate to Google Search. The part I quoted is at about the 24 minute mark.
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