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At a recent AI summit in New York, a Google executive defended the company's use of AI summaries in search results. Erikson, a vice president named Markham Erikson, responded to a lawsuit filed by Penske Media Corporation, the parent company of Rolling Stone, stating that user needs are gradually shifting from traditional "10 blue links" to AI-generated contextual summaries.
Image source note: The image is AI-generated, and the image licensing service is Midjourney
Erikson pointed out that Google aims to maintain a "healthy ecosystem," combining AI summaries with traditional search results. He mentioned that although the use of AI summaries is increasing, traditional search links remain crucial to the entire ecosystem. He said that Google once offered a simple and effective value proposition, through which users could freely access billions of publications worldwide.
However, recent evidence suggests that the use of AI summaries may lead to a decline in website search traffic, which also affects the revenue of online publishers. This point was emphasized in Penske's lawsuit. Although Erikson refused to discuss the details of the lawsuit, he emphasized Google's philosophy, which is to meet users' changing needs while guiding users back to valuable content.
He added that user demand for information is changing, as they tend to seek contextual answers and summaries rather than just factual answers and links. Therefore, Google hopes to balance the provision of these services and continuously adapt to user preferences. He emphasized that Google will not abandon traditional search links, as this model still plays an important role in the ecosystem. Ultimately, Google's goal is to ensure the overall health of internet content.
Key points:
🌐 User preferences are changing, from traditional search links to AI-generated summaries.
📉 The use of AI summaries may lead to a decline in search traffic and revenue for online publishers.
🔗 Google promises to continue maintaining the importance of traditional search links while adapting to user needs.