Thanks to AI we no longer know how to use search engines

More and more often, people are wondering whether the use of generative artificial intelligence is starting, at least in part, to replace traditional search engines: a reflection shared by many tech experts and beyond. The idea that search engines, as we have known them until now, are entering a phase of crisis—especially among certain groups of users—began circulating at the end of 2022, shortly after the launch of ChatGPT by OpenAI. The fear was that a growing number of users were gradually getting used to searching for information directly through chatbots, bypassing Google altogether, thus undermining the model on which a significant part of the web ecosystem is based. Not surprisingly, Google immediately perceived this shift as a concrete threat to its search system and, consequently, to the sustainability of its business model. In response, the company has heavily invested in developing generative AI technologies. However, the transition to this new paradigm involves significant challenges: on one hand, Google must inevitably continue to support and innovate its traditional search engine; on the other, it is in some ways forced to chase after companies like OpenAI, which offer entirely different modes of interacting with information.

If we think about it, Google's classic search results page now seems to belong to a bygone era, tied to a web structure primarily based on hyperlinks. The most advanced artificial intelligence models are now able to move beyond this logic, gathering information from multiple sources and synthesizing it into direct answers. A concrete example is AI Overview, a system introduced by Google itself that uses artificial intelligence to generate responses displayed at the top of the page, before the organic results. This evolution has already had a tangible impact on user behavior: a 30 percent drop in clicks on traditional results has been observed, as more and more people find the information they need directly within AI Overview, without having to visit other websites. A shift of this magnitude has significant repercussions on the entire web economy, whose traffic largely depends on visibility through search engines. Sites of all kinds, from e-commerce platforms to news outlets, have relied for years on SEO optimization strategies to improve their ranking in search results pages. However, it is no longer clear whether these techniques will remain truly effective, as the access point to information is gradually shifting toward automated systems capable of providing answers without intermediaries.

Although this approach is not entirely new, the fact that even Google is now at the forefront of promoting it is significant, given its dominant position in the online search sector. Last year, we wondered whether AI applied to web searches was just a bubble: the answer is most likely no. Another Google project moving in this direction is AI Mode, a feature that integrates the communicative capabilities of chatbots into the search engine. For now, available only in the United States, the tool allows users to interact with Google in a conversational manner, asking questions and receiving explanations similarly to a normal chat. But alongside search engines being replaced by AI, another trend is emerging—one that is likely to influence our interaction with information on the web just as profoundly: this is the case of so-called AI agents, tools capable of performing complex actions independently on behalf of users. These systems can, for instance, create a shopping list and complete an online order based on a simple indication of what one wants to cook—along with generating the corresponding recipe. In this context, Google has recently introduced an experimental project called Project Mariner, which appears to be heading in exactly this direction. Given these developments, it's no surprise that the use of traditional search engines is losing ground. For example, in April 2024—for the first time in 22 years—the number of Google searches made via Safari declined. In the same year, for the first time since 2015, Google's market share in online search dropped below 90%. All these signals suggest that we are witnessing a profound and structural change: are we truly at the beginning of a new phase in the evolution of the Internet and how we interact with search engines?