The Coming AI Disruption: How Artificial Intelligence May Supplant Search Engines and Web Browsers
The outlook of our digital landscape is evolving faster than ever before. Recent developments in artificial intelligence (AI) are completely changing the outlook on how we run our daily, digital lives and are prompting questions about the future role of search and internet browsers as we know them.
From a content marketer’s perspective, there is an interesting trend on the horizon – a steady decline in click-through rates from search engine results pages (SERPs). This can be attributed, in part, to AI-powered features like featured snippets and “people also ask” boxes, which aim to provide direct answers to user queries without the need to click through to external websites.
While these AI features undoubtedly enhance the user experience by delivering quick, relevant information, they also raise broader questions about the long-term implications for websites and content creators who rely on search traffic as a primary source of visitors and revenue.
Beyond the immediate impact on click-through rates, a more profound question emerges: Will AI eventually supplant search engines and internet browsers altogether, fundamentally transforming how we interact with digital information?
This blog post and our corresponding Digital Marketing Masterclass explore this intriguing possibility, delving into the capabilities of AI that extend far beyond mere information retrieval, and how these advancements could reshape the digital landscape as we know it.
I predict that the use of browsers will go down and the use of AI as an app will go up
– Andy Crestodina
AI Goes Beyond Information Retrieval
To understand the potential of AI to disrupt search and internet browsing, we must first recognize that its capabilities extend far beyond simple information retrieval from existing data sources. While search engines excel at indexing and surfacing relevant web pages and documents, AI can generate entirely new content and solutions tailored to specific prompts and needs.
This generative capacity of AI opens up a world of possibilities. For instance, instead of just retrieving recipes from the internet, an AI system could create personalized recipes from scratch, taking into account an individual’s dietary restrictions, taste preferences, and available ingredients. Rather than simply summarizing existing news articles, AI could synthesize information from multiple sources to provide impartial, non-sensationalized summaries devoid of clickbait.
Moreover, AI can act as a virtual assistant, providing step-by-step guidance for complex tasks – be it fixing a household appliance, learning a new software, or planning a vacation. This level of customized, context-aware assistance is something that traditional search engines and websites cannot match.
The applications of generative AI are virtually limitless, spanning various domains such as education, healthcare, creative arts, and business operations. As the technology continues to evolve, we can expect AI to play an increasingly prominent role in our daily lives, augmenting and, in some cases, replacing existing tools and services. AI has the potential to reshape how we consume and interact with information – moving us away from the static, one-size-fits-all model of traditional web browsing toward a more personalized, conversational, and context-aware paradigm.
The Browser Experience vs AI Apps
The current browser experience is often riddled with distractions and inefficiencies. Ads, pop-ups, cookie warnings, and lengthy load times can disrupt the user’s flow and diminish the overall experience. Furthermore, the abundance of websites vying for attention can lead to information overload, making it challenging to find precisely what one needs amidst the digital clutter. For these reasons, we may likely see a shift away from the traditional web browsing experience toward the use of dedicated AI applications and assistants.
AI apps and assistants can provide a more streamlined and focused experience by directly generating the desired information or solution based on the user’s input. Rather than sifting through multiple websites and advertisements, users can simply pose their query or request to the AI system, which can then synthesize and present the relevant content in a clean, concise manner. This streamlined approach not only saves time and effort but also enhances the overall user experience by eliminating the need to navigate through the noise and clutter that often accompanies traditional web browsing.
Moreover, the rise of AI apps could potentially reshape the way we consume digital content. Instead of relying on websites crammed with clickbait and intrusive advertisements, users may gravitate toward AI-generated summaries and content that is focused, impartial, and tailored to their specific needs. As consumers become more accustomed to the improved user experience offered by AI apps, we may see a gradual shift in preferences – favoring the direct, personalized interactions provided by these AI-powered solutions over the traditional, fragmented web browsing paradigm.
Impact on Search Traffic and News Outlets
There is definitely an appetite for AI mediated content.
The rise of AI and its potential to reshape how we consume digital information could have significant ramifications for businesses and platforms that rely heavily on search traffic and online advertising revenue.
Studies have already begun to quantify the impact of AI-powered search features like featured snippets and knowledge panels. According to research by Search Engine Land, SGE experiences contributed to an 18-64% decline in click-through rates from Google’s search results pages across various industries. This trend suggests that as AI becomes more adept at directly answering user queries, the need to visit external websites may diminish.
For news outlets and online publishers, the implications could be far-reaching. By providing succinct, impartial summaries of news events, AI assistants could reduce the incentive for users to visit traditional news sites, many of which are plagued by clickbait headlines, intrusive advertisements, and sensationalized content.
As AI-mediated content consumption gains traction, news organizations may need to reevaluate their business models and content strategies. Rather than relying solely on driving traffic to their websites, they may need to explore alternative revenue streams or find ways to integrate their content into AI platforms and assistants.
Moreover, the decline in search traffic could also impact businesses that heavily rely on search engine optimization (SEO) and content marketing strategies to attract visitors and generate leads. These companies may need to adapt their marketing approaches, potentially shifting their focus toward optimizing for AI assistants and voice search queries.
While the full extent of AI’s impact on search traffic and online advertising remains uncertain, one thing is clear: businesses and platforms that fail to adapt to this evolving landscape risk being left behind as consumer behavior and preferences shift toward more streamlined, AI-driven experiences.
The AI Model Race
Driving many of the recent advancements in AI capabilities is the rapid development and deployment of large language models – the foundational technology that powers AI assistants like ChatGPT, Bard, and others. These models are trained on vast datasets comprising billions of words from websites, books, and other digital sources, enabling them to understand and generate human-like text across a wide range of topics and tasks.
However, not all language models are created equal. The performance and capabilities of these AI systems are largely determined by their architecture, the size of their training data, and the computational resources employed during the training process. This has led to an intense “AI model race” among big tech companies and research labs, each vying to develop the most sophisticated and capable language models.
At the forefront of this race are tech giants like Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic, investing billions of dollars into research and development efforts. Google’s Pathways Language Model, for instance, boasts an astounding 540 billion parameters (the values that define the model’s knowledge and behavior), while Anthropic’s recently announced Constitutional AI model claims to have 281 billion parameters.
Beyond sheer size, researchers are also exploring novel architectures and training techniques to enhance the capabilities of these models. For example, OpenAI’s InstructGPT integrates human feedback and reinforcement learning to align the model’s behavior with human preferences and instructions better.
Additionally, the growing trend of multimodal AI – systems that can process and generate different forms of data, such as text, images, and audio – is driving integrations between various AI models. For instance, Google’s Bard is being combined with Adobe’s Firefly, enabling it to generate and manipulate visual content in addition to text.
While these large, general-purpose models demonstrate impressive versatility, some experts argue that fine-tuning and customizing open-source models like GPT-3 for specific use cases may ultimately outperform the one-size-fits-all approach. This “AI specialization” could lead to a proliferation of domain-specific AI assistants tailored for industries like healthcare, finance, and legal services.
As the AI model race intensifies, the implications for businesses and consumers alike are profound. The companies that succeed in developing and deploying the most advanced AI models could gain a significant competitive advantage, shaping the future of how we interact with digital information and services.
Conclusion
The rapid advancements in artificial intelligence, particularly in the realm of large language models and multimodal AI systems, have brought us to an inflection point. We stand at the precipice of a profound transformation in how we consume, interact with, and even generate digital information and content.
As AI capabilities continue to evolve, surpassing the limitations of traditional search engines and web browsers, we may witness a shift toward a more streamlined, personalized, and context-aware paradigm. AI-powered applications and assistants could supplant the need for extensive browsing and sifting through websites, offering users a direct path to the specific information or solutions they seek.
This transition, however, is not without its challenges and implications. Businesses that rely heavily on search traffic and online advertising revenue may need to adapt their strategies to remain relevant in an AI-driven world. News outlets and content creators may need to explore new distribution channels and revenue models as consumer preferences shift toward AI-mediated content consumption.
Moreover, the “AI model race” among tech giants and research labs will likely shape the future trajectory of this technology. The companies that succeed in developing and deploying the most advanced and capable AI models could gain a significant competitive advantage, influencing how we interact with digital services and information in the years to come.
The future of AI and its impact on search, internet browsers, and content consumption is uncertain, but one thing is clear: those who fail to recognize and adapt to this paradigm shift risk being left behind in the digital age.
To learn more about AI, Digital Marketing, and so much more, contact the team at Farotech. Our digital marketing and branding products offer you and your business a comprehensive suite of services to take your company to the next level.
