Google DeepMind CEO: We’ll dominate AI search and assistants

/dans

Google isn’t picking between AI-powered search or AI assistants. The future of information retrieval isn’t either-or – Google intends to win at both, according to Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis.

Why we care. Google is radically reshaping search with generative AI – through AI Overviews and the newly launched AI Mode. Google apparently views this as a moment to expand its dominance. But meanwhile, it is sparking an existential crisis for many SEOs, creators, and publishers who struggle with the new reality of what “search” is in an AI-first world.

Details. In a new, wide-ranging interview with Wired’s Steven Levy, here’s what Hassabis had to say about AI search:

  • AI-powered search (i.e., AI Overviews) is for quick facts and citations.
  • AI Mode, Google’s new immersive, conversational AI search experience, is for deeper queries.
  • “Both those modes are going to be growing and necessary. “We plan to dominate both,” he said.

Why search? Levy asked perhaps the most obvious and important question of all: “If Gemini can satisfy your questions, why search at all?”

  • Hassabis downplayed the idea that AI Mode will completely replace traditional search, using a personal metaphor: “I don’t go to [my assistant] for all my informational needs. I just use search for that.”

Hassabis’ response led to this telling exchange:

[Levy]: “Your assistant hasn’t absorbed all of human knowledge. Gemini aspires to that, so why use search?”

[Hassabis] “All I can tell you is that today, and for the next two or three years, both those modes are going to be growing and necessary. We plan to dominate both.”

What’s next. AI Mode will continue rolling out to more users. Search will continue its ongoing shift toward AI-generated summaries. Traditional search will continue to exist and seems to still be growing – but for how long? Even Google execs have said the decline of Google search traffic is inevitable.

The interview. Google DeepMind’s CEO Thinks AI Will Make Humans Less Selfish

Dig deeper. How AI Mode and AI Overviews work based on patents and why we need new strategic focus on SEO