Google just introduced AI Mode on google search, which basically eliminates the need of clicking on links, it just gives you the answer straight away.
End of an era, what are your thoughts? What is the future of the web/developers?
I see it this way (for now) was a bit like when the web took hold and news broadcasters, publishers, and radio stations all said it was the end for them (companies like Yellow Pages too). Similar to the CD and mass music piracy via file sharing with apps like eDonkey and Napster etc. Yes it will have an impact but for most people outside of tech they don't really know nor care about it and for the most part they are the people who use Google to actually locate a service or a website and still like to browse and search. Its just a shift and like most there will be a lot of hype initially then it will become the norm and the next thing will arrive. Assuming AI does not overtake the world in-between and robots use us humans for entertainment. Hahaha...
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In my opinion if Google wanted to, yes they could possibly end websites, not web applications like dashboards, admin sections that have been designed around a particular company etc. but honestly, why would they, they would stand to lose AdWords revenue in the billions, I can not see them doing such a thing on purpose. The AI may just make the change itself though and bypass Google all together.
I think sites that are providing intellectual information, will suffer a decline as a lot of info is repeated in a lot of websites - the AI will just aggregate it all then recycle it into the most likely match for the users input.
There's a lot of blogs out there from very competent coders that are suffering right now - instead of users internet searching then finding their blog posts about specific coding problems, they can now use Copilot and get direct feedback - completely bypassing said blogs info.
Sites that are niche, or are selling particular products will do fine. Most small business websites will do fine too - someone typing in 'where can I buy widgetABC in locationxyz' will likely get the same results whether AI is in use or not.
Or it could work the other way as well. We are going to Greece in July. I googled 'what are my options to get from city center to the cruise port' or something like that. It actually gave me a list of companies that I then googled to look up the website of each company for more information.
The AI mode on Google has been around for awhile now. While I find it very useful for quick information, I generally end up scrolling past the boosted links to the real links anyways.
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