Greetings from Orlando. I'm here for two more days leading workshops on increasing enterprise productivity with AI.
In the news: As you probably know, Google has started rolling out AI summaries called "AI Overviews" in search results. Now, they are about to start testing search and shopping ads within AI Overviews in the U.S. The ads will be displayed in a "sponsored" section and will be relevant to both the query and the information in the AI Overview.
In Q1, Google Search and other advertising revenues were $46.2 billion, up 14% year-over-year, so they are going to do everything they can to keep up the good work.
Problematically, while ads in AI Overviews might be good for Google, they do nothing to remunerate or support the creators and publishers of the content they have trained on to deliver the AI Overview itself. Unlike a SERP (search engine results page), which offers organic search results (web listings), AI Overviews offers a paragraph or two that (depending on the topic) may be the only results you need. No attribution, no links, and no compensation of any kind. On mobile, the layout I've seen has room for one and a half small tiles for sites related to the AI Overview, but that single carousel is immediately followed by a robust section of ads.
To echo many of my colleagues: "Search is dead. Long live Google."
As always your thoughts and comments are both welcome and encouraged. -s
ABOUT SHELLY PALMER
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with technology, media and marketing. Named LinkedIn’s “Top Voice in Technology,” he covers tech and business for Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN and writes a popular daily business blog. He's a bestselling author, and the creator of the popular, free online course, Generative AI for Execs. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.
